Digimon: Virus Busters OLD
by GordoBaggins
Summary: NOTE: I'm rewriting this story from the beginning, as I'm not pleased with the direction I've taken with it. Read this story if you please, but keep in mind I won't be finishing it in this form.
1. 0: Prologue

Chapter 0: Prologue

Jen Tagatu was the tomboyish punk type. She wore rectangular goggles on her forehead, wore several wristbands and sweatbands on her arms and had black gloves on her hands with the tips of the fingers cut off manually. She wore baggy jeans and sneakers to top off her everyday look.

In her room, she was lying down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Everything about her life seemed so stressful. Her friends were talking behind her back, her boyfriend and her got in a fight on the phone, and her parents were threatening each other with divorce.

Jen contemplated several things about her life daily. Her grades gradually slipped over the course of one semester. She remembered an essay she had to do for her English class. She had to state what she thought the purpose of one's life is. She, of course, skipped out on this assignment, but not due to laziness.

In her room, she could hear her parents screaming. Bickering like this was something she was used to hearing, and she held her pillow to her ear to do her best to mute it.

"What IS our reason for being here?" she whispered to herself, turning to her side. She slowly began to fall asleep.

- - -

The sound of her cell phone ringing was the only thing that could wake her up. Slowly, but steadily, she got off of her bed, walked over to her computer and unplugged her cell phone from the CPU. She pressed "Talk".

"Hello?" she answered her phone. There was a long silence. She pulled the phone from her ear and looked at the screen to make sure the call was still open. When she put it back to her ear, all she could hear was fuzz.

"Musta hung up."

She turned her phone off and plugged it back into the computer. At this moment, a bright flash emitted from the cord and zapped her hand and her phone unplugged.

She examined her hand, which would have probably been burned, if not for her gloves. She tried plugging it in again. The same flash occurred, but it stayed plugged in and it didn't really zap her.

But once the flash had shone, it didn't stop.

She examined her glowing cell phone, which grew brighter every passing second. Eventually, it glowed so bright that nothing else was visible.

"What the f--"


	2. 1: 101 0011 Jenny

-1Chapter 1: 101-0011 Jenny

Jen found herself in a sprawling digital metropolis. Several small monsters were visible going about their daily lives among several tall buildings resembling those found in our world. It was like a DigiWorld version of New York City!

Walking along a city street, completely confused as to her destination, she glanced at several of the weird creatures staring back at her. She obviously didn't look like any of them, being the most human looking of anything she'd seen so far. To them, she was an odd sight, but such a feeling was mutual.

Turning a corner near a small store named "Dukemon's Convenience Store", Jen spotted a large battle commencing. Several goblin-like creatures were attacking a group of military clad dragon monsters in the middle of the road. Each of the dragon monsters wielded what appeared to be an assault rifle and was dressed in commando-like garb. The goblin monsters were clad in brown rock-studded vests and loincloths, wielding clubs.

"Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air!" said one of the soldiers as it aimed its rifle at one of the 5 goblins. Each goblin followed these orders and place their clubs on the ground in front of them.

"What an awesome fight that was, huh?" said a blue creature sarcastically that suddenly appeared next to Jen. This one appeared to be a lizard-esque dragon creature, barely 2 feet tall with mostly blue skin (its mouth area was white as well as its stomach area). A small horn appeared where its nose should be, and it had 2 conical appendages thrust behind its head, resembling ears. It had the normal 5 fingers on its hands and 3 toes on its feet In between its large eyes existed a red V. Beside these eyes were 2 triangular red markings. This was odd, as Jen had seen several monsters just like this one, except their markings were yellow…

Jen nearly stumbled to the ground at the sight of this creature, but managed to keep her cool. The monster held his hand out, gesturing a handshake. "Hehe, sorry about that. My name's Veemon! What's yours?"

Jen, still gawking slightly, managed to stumble out "Jen…" and shake his hand. She was surprised the creature could speak English.

"Jen? That's a weird name." Veemon said. "Mind if I call you Jenmon? Jenmon sounds cooler."

Jen looked oddly at Veemon, but nodded and said "Sure, whatever."

"Sweet!" he said excitedly. "Wanna be my friend?"

Jen chuckled a bit. She found the creature more cute and funny now than scary. "Sure, why not?"

"Cool!" Veemon exclaimed in his now exciting voice. As the two conversed, one of the many soldier monsters arresting the goblins approached Jen and Veemon. "Greetings, citizens! Name's Commandramon, elite soldier of the File City Police Department!" he said saluting the two. "I can tell you're a Veemon," he said, looking at him. "…But who is this other creature?" he asked, now eyeing Jen.

"She's Jenmon!" Veemon exclaimed before Jen had a chance to speak her real name.

Commandramon seemed unfazed by the fact that he'd never seen someone like her before and accepted this answer. "Hello, Jenmon! Would you guys like to come to the police station for some food?"

Veemon, seemingly following a pattern of interruption, answered "Yes" as he jumped into the sky. The other Commandramon soldiers were already back by now. "Alright then, follow me!" Feeling a bit strange about this, Jen reluctantly followed the Commandramon and Veemon to the police department. She made a conscious decision to keep her mouth shut for most of the trip.

- - -

At the police station main room, there were hordes of Commandramon Digimon loading weapons, chatting and preparing criminal files. Behind a desk at the end of the room was a human. A sign on the desk said his name was "Officer Hankeru". Jen was surprised to see another human in this world, since she hadn't since she'd been brought there.

"Hello, child, who might you be? Are you lost?" General Hankeru said in a calm manner.

"Uh, no, not really, I'm getting along fine, thanks." Jen responded.

"I just brought these two here for a bit of DigiFood," Commandramon said. Hearing the word "DigiFood" made Jen wonder if she was meant to have it.

One Commandramon brought out a few doughnuts on a plate, placing it on the General's desk. "Dig in, friends!" he said. Both Veemon and the friendly Commandramon did just that, but Jen stepped back a bit.

"Come on, Jenmon!" said Veemon, his mouth filled with food. "It tastes really good!"

"Uh… I'm not too hungry, thanks," Jen lied.

"Whatever," Veemon said. "More for us, right?" Veemon's question went unanswered as Commandramon devoured his share of the Digi-donuts. Though, Commandramon gave him an assuring look and Veemon giggled.

Jen spotted a pair of Commandramon officers taking in one of the goblin criminals. As they took him to his cell teleporter, though, he popped an evil smile. Jen saw something was wrong, as the monster absorbed the data inside the teleporter into his body. The two Commandramon, in shock, let go of the Goblimon and watching in horror as something happened. The monster began to glow brightly.

"Goblimon digivolve to… OGREMON!" Goblimon had digivolved into a larger version of himself, with horns, a larger jaw, a larger club and metal chains around his wrists and ankles.

Jen looked severely confused and stared in confusion at the newly transformed Ogremon. Meanwhile, a small gang of Commandramon headed through the left hallway of the police station, the Ogremon dashing outside.

General Hankeru followed them. He picked up a small, silver flip-phone-like device with a teal trim. Along with this he picked up a small computer chip and inserted it on the side of the phone. Afterwards, he flipped it open, pressed a button and held it to his mouth. "Initiate Digivolution Matrix!" He then pointed the antenna at his Commandramon, sending a beam of data energy to him.

Commandramon began to glow brightly. "Commandramon digivolve to…" The white energy began to take a newer, taller shape. "SEALSDRAMON!" The white energy receded and took its form.

The new Sealsdramon appeared as a tall dragon-esque Digimon covered completely in teal and red colored armor. It had two different eyes: one appeared to be a monocle and the other was nothing but a red laser light. It carried a small hand knife in its right hand and had a long, armored tail. On its back were two very small, red bladed wing-like appendages.

Now outside, Jen and Veemon gazed at what had just occurred between General Hankeru and the Commandramon. Sealsdramon held his knife pointed at Ogremon. In a raspy, muffled voice, he said, "Ogremon, you are under arrest by the File City Police! Drop your weapon and place your hands in the air!" Ogremon seemed completely ignorant of this and charged at Sealsdramon.

"Bone Cudgel!"

Ogremon knocked Sealsdramon into the street as Veemon and Jen ran inside for safety.

"Jenmon, what are we gonna do? Huh?" Veemon said, more worried than Jen had seen him yet. Quickly, she looked around. On the General's desk was another flip phone. This one had a lighter tint of blue trimming around the sides of it, contrary to General Hankeru's teal blue one. Jen walked over and picked it up, looking back over at Veemon, who was gazing outside the police station window. She began to think.

"Veemon, I want you to go out there and wait for me to come out."

"But Jenmon—"

"Just trust me on this."

Nodding, Veemon ran out the police station door as Jen searched General Hankeru's desk for another computer chip. Digging in one of the drawers, she found one and held it into the air. "Yes!" she shouted, and dashed out the door to Veemon.

Outside, Sealsdramon had transformed back into Commandramon and was lying on the sidewalk, apparently injured. General Hankeru was crouched over, tending to his Digimon's wounds, when he noticed Jen with a DigiCell. "Where in the world did you find that?" he asked in surprise and he finished up caring for Commandramon.

"It was on your desk when I walked in," Jen said matter-of-factly.

"You're not authorized to use that!" he yelled, running over to Jen, about to snatch it from her. He was too late, though, as Jen had already found where to place the DigiChip and had put it in.

Meanwhile, Veemon was battling Ogremon all he could. "Vee Head Butt!" he shouted as he literally head butted Ogremon in the chest, though it barely did anything to affect him, being a Champion level Digimon against a Rookie level.

Jen had finally found the Digivolution button on her DigiCell. Remembering what she'd seen General Hankeru do, she pressed it and shouted "Initiate Digivolution Matrix!" into it. She then pointed the antenna at Veemon, sending a beam of data energy toward the now dazed Digimon.

Immediately after it hit him, Veemon nearly jumped up from the surge of energy and stood defiantly as the white light fit his form.

"Veemon digivolve to…" The white figure began to take a larger, more dragon-like shape. The figure was more hunched over with more muscular arms and legs. The appendages on the back of Veemon's head had become gray horns, and the small horn that was where his nose should be grew to a significantly large size.

"…VEEDRAMON!" he shouted as the white light receded. He now looked much more threatening. Now more dragon-like in appearance, the skin around his arms and claws was now white. He had white markings on his chest, and in the middle of one white spot was a blue "V". His blue tail had also grown much longer.

Jen gazed at her new "creation" in amazement. General Hankeru looked surprised enough that she'd pulled it off.

Veedramon examined his new self. "Look at me, Jenmon! This is AWESOME!" Jen could only manage to blubber, "Yeah…" in her amazement.

"Time to test this stuff out!" Veedramon said excitedly in his now deeper, more threatening voice. "V-Nova Blast!" he shouted as a ball of fire spewed from his mouth. The attack flew at Ogremon, hitting him right in the face and knocking him down into the sidewalk across the street.

Veedramon took a gigantic leap across the street, landing next to where Ogremon had fell as he got back up. Veedramon's large feet left a major crater where he landed.

Veedramon backed up a bit. "Hammer Punch!" he shouted, leaping toward Ogremon, his arm pulled backward. As he neared Ogremon, he then thrust his fist forward and smacked Ogremon in the face, knocking him out. The force of the attack caused Ogremon to grow brightly and he suddenly de-digivolved into Goblimon again.

Suddenly, Goblimon began to turn into a pure data stream, letting itself free into the atmosphere. Veedramon stared at the data stream, wondering why this was happening. On the ground, after Goblimon had completely dematerialized, was a small red ruby-like piece, glowing bright crimson. Veedramon de-digivolved back into Veemon as the data stream came back down and the ruby absorbed it. Veemon ran back to Jen, General Hankeru and Commandramon. Commandramon ran over to the ruby to pick it up.

"You alright, little guy?" Jen asked Veemon as he hugged her leg tightly.

"Yeah, thanks for the boost, Jenmon!" he responded.

General Hankeru looked over at Jen. "Say, why didn't you use that DigiCell on YOURSELF, 'Jenmon'?" he asked with a smirk and a wink. He knew that she was a human and that she could quite possibly be one of the prophesied DigiDestined to protect the DigiWorld.


	3. 2: KoKabuterimon, Don't Bother Me

-1Chapter 2: KoKabuterimon, Don't Bother Me

Jared Miyotama was the nerdish type. Being skinny and barely five-foot tall, arriving in the Digital World was an exhilarating experience for such a bright boy. Except when you're being chased by a near 6-foot insectoid Digimon.

Running through the digital forest just off of File City, Jared was being chased by a large beetle-like monster with metallic armor. He had four arms, the top two being much larger than the bottom two, and possessed a large rhinoceros beetle horn on his head. He had several red spikes on his back wings, the wings being together like a ladybug's.

"Please, stop running! I don't want to hurt you!" he said to Jared in his child-like voice as they ran through the forest. Jared did nothing but continue screaming and panting. Jared finally got so tired that he stopped.

Falling to the ground, Jared expected the worst. But when the creature approached him, he seemingly meant no harm. "Hi, I'm KoKabuterimon. Who are you?" he asked. Jared bore no response.

"Oh, come on," KoKabuterimon said. "I won't hurt you. I'm not much into fighting myself."

Jared finally got up, holding his hand out to him. His legs were still a bit shaky. "J-Jared Miyotama," he stated his name.

KoKabuterimon shook his hand with his mighty claw, but supposedly didn't harm Jared. He seemed more comfortable with the insect Digimon now.

- - -

On the forest trail were Jen and Veemon, searching for the next human who was detected in the Digital World.

"General Hankeru said the human was detected over here," Jen said to Veemon as he was in front of Jen. "Oh, and I have a question."

Veemon turned around to look at her. "What might that be?" he asked.

"Why do you guys have roads in your cities when nobody really uses them?"

Veemon chuckled and put his hand on the back of his head. "Heh. Some Digimon are too big for the sidewalks, I suppose. We have giant dinosaurs and living tanks pass through all the freakin' time."

Jen giggled. "Good point."

Veemon and Jen kept walking until Veemon stopped in his tracks and pointed into the distance. "Look, Jenmon! A human!" Jen stopped with him.

"You do know I'm not a Digimon, right?"

Veemon looked surprised. "Oh, really? Then wha—" Veemon then heard a buzzing sound. "Look over there!" he pointed into the forested area off the trail.

Jen looked in the direction Veemon pointed. She saw a short, skinny boy with thick square glasses and a vest. She also spotted the KoKabuterimon. "Whoa! You're right. Let's go check him out."

"Gotcha!"

Jen and Veemon approached Jared and KoKabuterimon. "Hey, howzzitpoppin?" Jen asked.

Jared looked at the pair confused. "I suppose you wound up here randomly, too?"

"Yup," Jen responded. "And I have a little something for you." She dug in her pocket for the extra gold-trimmed DigiCell that General Hankeru had given her. She handed it to Jared and he hesitantly took the device, examining it.

After looking at it for a moment, he handed it back to Jen. "I already have one of these." He proceeded to pull out his own DigiCell. His had a lime green trim rather than the gold one he was supposed to have been given.

Jen looked at Jared's DigiCell in surprise. "Who the hell am I supposed to give this thing to then? And who gave you that one?"

"It was on the ground next to me when I arrived here in the forest," Jared answered. "Once I picked it up, I spotted KoKabuterimon here chasing after me."

Jen shrugged and put the gold DigiCell in her left pocket. She then spotted Veemon looking through a few of the trees. Several of them were falling down, crashing to the ground beneath.

"I'm gonna go check this out," Veemon said and ran through the rugged forested area without question. "Wait up!" Jen shouted as she ran after him.

"Wait up!" Jared shouted, but tired from running away from his Digimon, he didn't even try running after them. KoKabuterimon looked at Jared worriedly. "Aren't you gonna do something?" he asked.

"I'm too tired."

KoKabuterimon scoffed, lifting Jared with two of his arms. "I'll fly you there, then. Lazy." He then spread his beetle wings as they began to quickly lift Jared and him into the air.

"Whoa!" Jared shouted as KoKabuterimon sped forward through the forest.

The two came outside of the forest to a bay that led out to a digital ocean. Veemon and Jen were there before them, staring down another insect Digimon, apparently a bee-like monster. It was yellow with black stripes running down the stinger on his rear. Instead of standing, of course, he was hovering in the air with his wings fluttering quickly.

"Brown Stingers!" Flymon shouted, and in an instant he sent two stingers flying from his abdomen at Veemon. He managed to dodge this attack by jumping up. In mid-air he sent himself headfirst into Flymon. "Vee Head Butt!"

"Yeah! Go Veemon!" Jen shouted in excitement as Veemon hit Flymon in the head with his head butt attack, knocking the Flymon down. The Flymon glowed white as he de-digivolved into another insectoid Digimon that resembled a yellow larva with black markings and a stinger.

Jen pulled out her DigiCell as Veemon returned to her and Jared and KoKabuterimon came to her side. A holographic viewing screen appeared from a small light on her Digivice. The antenna extended, scanning the larva monster and proving stats on the viewing screen with a picture of the monster above its name "Kunemon". "Well, that's handy," Jen stated in surprise of the new function of her Digivice.

By the time Jen was done gawking at the DigiCell, the Kunemon had already disappeared.

"It ran into the forest!" Jared shouted, KoKabuterimon already on its trail.

Though, a moment later, KoKabuterimon was seen flying out of the forest back onto the beach. After that, there were two Flymon emerging out of the forest.

"Wasn't one annoying enough?" Jen asked herself. She pulled out her DigiCell and nodded to Veemon, who was at her side.

Flipping open her DigiCell, Jen pressed her Digivolution button and shouted "Initiate Digivolve Matrix!" into it. She then closed it, pulling out the pointed antenna and thrusting it forward, sending a beam of data energy toward Veemon. Shining white light began to fit his form.

"Veemon digivolve to… VEEDRAMON!" The white energy receded and Veemon had digivolved to Veedramon once again.

Jared and KoKabuterimon stared in awe at what they'd just seen, just like Jen had when she first did it. "Ready, Veedramon?"

"Ready! V-NOVA BLAST!" he shouted and he shot a blue flame in the shape of a V from his mouth, firing forward at one of the Flymon. The monster fell to the ground, but the other Flymon backed up and fired a stinger at Veedramon, knocking him down.

Veedramon held his left shoulder where the stinger had hit him, and to avoid deletion he de-digivolved back to Veemon. Jen rushed to his side. Things weren't looking to well.

Jared stared at the two Flymon who were staring him and KoKabuterimon down. Both Flymon charged at Jared, stingers pointed out first. Crouching into a fetal position and closing his eyes, he awaited his inevitable doom.

After several seconds, though, nothing seemed to happen. Jared peeked up from his position and saw KoKabuterimon blocking the Flymon with his massive arms.

"I can't hold them off too long!" KoKabuterimon said, struggling to keep his defensive maneuver going. "Hurry, back up!"

Jared did just that as KoKabuterimon grabbed the Flymon monsters by the stingers and tossed them forward amazingly far. Jared looked in amazement as he saw something glowing in his pocket. It was his DigiCell, and he took it out. The left side of the closed Digivice was glowing, and a DigiChip was sticking out that side. Pressing it in all the way, he knew what he had to do. KoKabuterimon looked behind himself at Jared, nodding to him that he was ready.

Jared flipped the phone open and pressed the Digivolution button, held it to his mouth and shouted "Initiate Digivolution Matrix!" He then aimed the antenna at KoKabuterimon and sent a stream of data toward him. His form began to glow a whitish light and morphed.

"KoKabuterimon digivolve to…" His body began to take a slightly smaller shape. It had no humanoid form or bipedal shape, but instead looked more like a sword figure. The light receded and revealed a new Digimon.

"…BLADEKUWAGAMON!" The Digimon's body appeared to be a sword-like weapon, blue electricity zapping all around it. At its "hilt" was a red jewel that glowed as it floated in the air. The whole being appeared to be armored with Chrome Digizoid metal. The hilt of the monster looked like a beetle-like form with a blade extending from its "mouth" with horns extending from each end of the guard.

Jared smiled at his new Digimon and nodded toward the two Flymon who had gotten back up from their fall. "Go!"

Blue energy emitted around BladeKuwagamon's blade. "Spark Blade!" it shouted, as its whole body became a knife of light, slashing swiftly through the two Flymon and piercing their stomachs. The two Digimon glowed white, dematerializing. As they did so, the data seemed to do the same thing it did when Ogremon was destroyed. Two rubies appeared where they seemed to die, and the data went to each respective ruby.

Jared walked up to BladeKuwagamon as he hovered in the air. Jen ran up to the two small rubies, picked them up and put them in her left pocket. BladeKuwagamon glowed white and de-digivolved back to KoKabuterimon. He then fell to the ground.

"You okay?" Jared asked him, crouching down to pat him on the back. "You did awesome!"

"Thanks…" KoKabuterimon groaned, getting back up. "You helped too, though. I normally don't have the courage to fight."

Jared looked surprised at him, as he was a very strong Rookie Digimon compared to many. "You'd win every fight you get, though! Just look at you!"

"Yeah, but half the time I'd be doing it for no reason."

"Well, how'd you like to fight for a cause?" Jen asked him.

"What kind of cause would that be?"

"Well, right now we're trying to get out of this world and find the kid we're supposed to give this Digivice to."

"Sure? Why not?" KoKabuterimon would be smiling if he had a mouth.

"Alright then!" said Jen with a sigh. "And how the heck do we get outta here?" As Jen said that, Jared had already hopped on KoKabuterimon and flown away. "Wait up!" Jen shouted at them, almost running into the ocean that they'd been flying over. An adventure was about to begin, much larger than Jen or anyone was expecting.


	4. 3: One Candlemon Lights the Way

-1Chapter 3: One Candlemon Lights the Way

"Thanks, Submarimon!" said Jen to the submarine Digimon that had driven them around the perimeter of File Island to File City's docks.

"No problem!" he said back to them as Jared, KoKabuterimon and Veemon hopped out. Submarimon dove back underwater and disappeared.

"Wasn't fun falling in the ocean in the middle of flying, was it guys?" Veemon asked Jared and KoKabuterimon. Jared walked up to Veemon, his head still wet, and shoot it rapidly, getting water all over Veemon. "Hey!"

Jen giggled. "We should probably get these rubies to General Hankeru."

"Right!" said Veemon, walking alongside her off of the dock and onto the sidewalks.

"Wait up!" Jared shouted after them, running with KoKabuterimon behind him.

Along the sidewalk, Jared and Veemon were looking out into the ocean. Far out they saw very dull figures in the middle of the ocean. They heard very distant cries of help, too, probably from them.

Jen and KoKabuterimon were farther ahead than the other two, and looked behind them to see what the hold up was. They both proceeded to look in the direction they were looking, and saw the same figure struggling in the water. From there, as it was hard to tell, they thought they saw Submarimon pop up from underwater and open his hatch, and the figure disappeared as Submarimon submerged back underwater.

"What just happened there?" Jared asked nobody in particular.

"I think Submarimon just saved someone," Jen responded.

"Cool!" Veemon exclaimed. They each saw the ripple of Submarimon swimming toward the shore by the docks and he rose to the surface. The team ran to the dock to see what happened.

In Submarimon's hatch they saw a penguin Digimon and a young boy, around Jen's age, who wore a headband and a muscle shirt. Next to him was a girl around the age on 10 with her hair in pigtails and a small pink dress. Submarimon's hatch opened and the three got out.

"Thanks for the save!" the boy said to Submarimon as he looked over at Jen and the others. "Who are they?"

The penguin and the girl ran over to them in interest. Jen and Veemon looked a bit confused.

"Hi! I'm Alexis and this is Penguinmon!" the girl said to Jen and Veemon. She pointed over at the boy. "That's my brother Max."

Max waved goodbye to Submarimon as he submerged underwater, and ran over to the others. "Uh, hi there, who are you guys?"

"I'm Jen," Jen said, "and this is Veemon." She patted her Veemon on the head.

"I'm Jared and this is KoKabuterimon," he said, jumping up to pat him on the head like Jen did. KoKabuterimon giggled sarcastically.

Penguinmon flapped her wings madly. The Digimon seemed pretty excited. The team continued down the sidewalk and decided to stop at the "McBurgermon's" across the street to get something to eat and chat.

The team walked into the restaurant, KoKabuterimon having to duck due to the low door. The kids sat down at a table and took a look at the menu, remembering that Digimon food was much different from human food.

The female Burgermon behind the counter in the restaurant could tell what they were thinking. "Don't worry!" she said. "We don't make the food out of pure data. It's good for humans in the Digital World, too." Jen sighed with relief, as she was starving. Each of the kids just ordered a burger, still just to be safe. The Digimon, on the other hand, had each ordered triple-decker cheeseburgers and various other menu items.

Veemon sniffed his burger suspiciously. Something was obviously wrong with it.

"Ugh. You guys gonna eat this crap?" Jen asked. "I should have brought real food… I'm kinda hungry."

"I'm not eating it," Jared said. "And I heard humans don't have to eat in the Digital World to survive."

"Whatever, then, I trust that little rumor over this computerized jumbo," Jen said, "Even though I'm gonna end up being starved either way." She dumped her food in the trash while the Mama Burgermon was in the kitchen, not looking. The other kids did the same.

The Digimon were still at the table, KoKabuterimon eating away. The other Digimon didn't seem to appreciate it as much as KoKabuterimon did. He seemed to be enjoying it, so the kids went up to the counter to mingle with the Burgermon.

Mama Burgermon came back to the counter from the kitchen. "Hello, children, would you like anything else?"

"No," each of the kids said simultaneously and firmly.

"Well, that's okay then."

Jared moved to the left of the counter a bit and noticed something in the kitchen. There was a candle Digimon in there heating the food, with several small Burgermon in there cooking it. Though, they weren't using red and yellow bottles for ketchup and mustard. There was a yellow bottle, yes, but the one that should have been red was actually black. "Why don't you guys use red ketchup?" Jared asked Mama Burgermon.

Mama Burgermon looked at him strangely. "What do you mean? Aren't they red?" She walked into the kitchen where the Digimon were cooking and noticed her ketchup bottles were black and not red. On the label where "ketchup" or something would usually be was a large K.

"What could this be?" Mama Burgermon examined the "ketchup" bottle. "This obviously isn't my homemade ketchup."

"I'm guessing that 'K' is supposed to make us think it is ketchup?" Jared stared suspiciously at Mama Burgermon.

Mama Burgermon had just noticed this, and gasped. The kids looked at her strange, but she just placed the bottle on the counter and walked into the kitchen slowly.

"What was that about?" Max asked. They spotted several of the children Burgermon in the kitchen laughing evilly, their eyes glowing red.

"We should probably get out of here," Jen said and they proceeded out the door.

As they turned for the door, though, several Burgermon children were in front of the exit, apparently trying to block their way out. "No escape," the four Burgermon said in unison.

"Okay…" said Jen worriedly. "That's probably not right."

From behind them they heard someone say, "Get the hell away from that door!" and turned around to see it was a candle Digimon floating over to the door. "FLAME BOMBER!" he shouted as he fired a large ball of flame from his candlewick at the Burgermon children. They all fell to the floor.

"Veemon! Help!" Jen shouted as he ran over to the scene. Penguinmon was busy fighting an apparently confused KoKabuterimon.

"KoKabuterimon, what are you doing?!" Jared asked in surprise as he watched him fight Penguinmon. "Scoop Smash!" he shouted and threw Penguinmon crashing out the store window as she flapped her stubby wings. The Burgermon children got up from Candlemon's attack and exited through the door. The kids and Veemon followed, as Mama Burgermon hid in the kitchen and KoKabuterimon flew out the broken window.

The battle found its way into the street. Jared's DigiCell glowed bright red, hovered out of his pocket and zapped red data energy toward KoKabuterimon.

"KoKabuterimon digivolve to… KUWAGAMON!"

KoKabuterimon took a much different form than that of BladeKuwagamon. A large red insectoid Digimon, Kuwagamon looked much fiercer than his other form.

Jared's DigiCell hovered back into his left pocket. "I DID NOT do that…"

"SCISSOR CLAW!" Kuwagamon shouted as it used the sharp edges of its mandibles to slice at Veemon. Veemon quickly recovered, though, and turned to Jen. "Do I have to say it?" Jen nodded and pulled out her DigiCell.

Jen flipped open her Digivice, pressed the "digivolve" button and aimed a stream of data toward Veemon with its antenna. "Initiate Digivolution Matrix!"

Veemon began to glow brightly. "Veemon digivolve to… VEEDRAMON!"

Veedramon stomped on the ground after his digivolution. "What did you guys do to the ketchup in those burgers?!" The Burgermon children remained still and Kuwagamon charged at Veedramon head on.

Veedramon managed to stand his ground and grabbed Kuwagamon's mandible claws, tossing him down the street. Kuwagamon glowed a bright red light for a moment, then the normal white light, de-digivolving into KoKabuterimon again. He was apparently back to normal, as a red data stream rose away from him during this sequence. Jared ran to his Digimon's side as Veedramon de-digivolved back to his Rookie form.

But the red data did not float away like it predictably would. Instead, it took a new form that resembled a machine Digimon. It was light brown drone-like monster with metal plating.

Jared pulled out his Digivice, scanned the Digimon and looked at its stats. "Guardromon, a Champion level Digimon. Its Destruction Grenade attack packs the force of an M1 tank!"

"Destruction Grenade!" the Guardromon shouted in a robotic tone and fired a grenade from one of the compartments on its right arm. It shot at Penguinmon and Candlemon and they fell to the ground.

As Penguinmon was on the ground, Candlemon seemed to get back up. "Flame Bomber!" it shouted and it shot a fireball from its candlewick at Guardromon. It took no effect, though, and he stood his ground.

/I wish I could do something…/ Max thought to himself. He suddenly felt something in his right pocket. He looked down at it and saw that there was something glowing in it. He dug in his pocket and found a DigiCell for himself. It had a red trim compared to the others.

"Alright, I guess I use this thing for something," he said. He then flipped the phone open and pressed the Digivolution button. "Initiate Digivolution Matrix!" he shouted as he aimed the antenna at Candlemon. A stream of data emitted from it.

"Candlemon digivolve to…" His body glowed white and he began to take a more humanoid shape.

"MERAMON!" The new Digimon resembled a human completely engulfed in orange and red flames.

"Haha, sweet. I got a Digimon," said Max in a cool-like manner, as if it was normal.

Jared pulled out his Digivice and scanned the Digimon. "Meramon, a Fire Digimon, Champion level!" he read off of the holo-display on his DigiCell.

Meramon stood defiantly, looking down slightly at the Guardromon. His six-foot size was certainly intimidating. "FIREBALL!" he shouted as he threw a ball of flame at Guardromon. This caused him to stumble a bit, but he still never gave up.

"Destruction Grenade!" Guardromon shouted once again. He fired several grenades from the compartment on his arms but each of the grenades burned up when they touched Meramon.

"Didn't work like you planned, did it?" he asked smart-mouthed.

Guardromon looked at Meramon in fear and began to take off. But Meramon didn't let this happen. "FLAMING CHARGE!" he shouted. The flames around his body grew, and he ran at quick speeds after Guardromon. He head butted him in the back, causing him to fall over in the street. Guardromon began to glow and he de-digivolved into a gear Digimon, Hagurumon. The kids and their Digimon ran over to the scene with Meramon, after which he then de-digivolved back into Candlemon.

"We WILL meet again, DigiDestined!" the gear Digimon yelled and in a flash of light, he teleported away.

"DigiDestined?" Jen asked nobody in particular.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jared asked in the same manner.

"I dunno," KoKabuterimon said, "but aren't you guys wondering why I unwillingly digivolved into something I shouldn't have?"

"It was probably that viral substance from the kitchen," Jared said. "You're the only one who ate a burger, you know…"

"The bigger mystery is where it came from?" Jen wondered. "I mean, someone probably put it in there." All heads turned to Candlemon.

"Hey, don't look at me, I just work there," he said.

"Not anymore," Max stated proudly. "You're my partner now!"

Candlemon's grin grew wide. "THANK YOU. I need to get out of that stupid restaurant. The Digimon from Server have been coming in illegally looking for jobs lately, anyway, they'll replace me with one eventually."

"I guess all we can do is figure this world out, right?" Alexis asked.

"Yeah, I guess so, sis," Max said. "Let's head south, I heard Submarimon talk about a large castle there. Maybe the king of Digimon lives there or something."

"That sounds a bit farfetched," Jared said. "But might as well try… and what about these rubies?"

"We should split up," Jen said. "Jared and I will go to the General and Max and Alexis will go with Candlemon and Penguinmon to the castle. We'll meet up with you there, okay?"

"Right." Nodding to each other, the kids and their Digimon went their separate ways. As Jen and Jared ran down the sidewalk, the extra gold-trimmed Digivice fell from Jen's pocket without her realization.

Before Max could pick it up and give it back to her, it began to glow brightly as a small, silver ball Digimon with red gloves ran up to it quickly, picked it up and ran away with it.

"Hey!" Max shouted at the silver Digimon. It ignored him completely and disappeared into the far away street. "Aww man, now Jen can't help Veemon digivolve!" Max and Alexis were completely ignorant to the existence of a fifth DigiDestined. Max had thought the Digivice was truly Jen's.


	5. 4: Evast, ye Digimon

-1Chapter 4: Evast, Ye Digimon

Max and Alexis, along with Candlemon and Penguinmon, found their way into the downtown area of File City, which looked more murky and slummy than anything. This was an area filled with virus-type Digimon who were just looking for trouble. Because of this, Candlemon and Penguinmon felt left out.

In the alleys of the downtown area were mischievous monsters of all sorts. In the dark, damp atmosphere, you could see groups of vampire-like Digimon called Vilemon on the rooftop ledges, some flying about. Dracmon and Impmon monsters could be seen duking it out in the shadowed alleyways. Alexis saw one Impmon completely delete another one with one fireball, and she cringed in horror.

"I really don't like this place, brother," Alexis trembled.

Max was on his DigiCell speaking with Jared. "Don't worry, sis. Jared says we're almost there."

"Good, this place is full of creepy Digimon!" she said as Max hung up his DigiCell. They headed down the road some more and turned a corner.

When they turned this corner, they came to a large, wide crack in the ground, filled with water, supposedly a long, wide moat. Predictably, a castle was across the moat.

"Well, that was easier than thinkable…" Max said in surprise. "Now how do we get across?"

"I wish Submarimon was here…" Alexis sighed. "What do we do now? I'm scared!"

Penguinmon waddled over to the sidewalk corner where she saw a Drimogemon. This was an odd sight, as a Drimogemon wasn't usually a "bad" enough Digimon to see in that area of the city. Penguinmon patted the Drimogemon on his drill nose playfully and smiled. Drimogemon didn't seem to mind this and smiled back.

"Penguinmon, stop that, silly!" Alexis shouted at what was presumably her Digimon.

"It's alright!" the drill Digimon said as Max, Alexis and Candlemon walked over to him. "She's obviously a curious little Digimon."

"Almost like you, Alexis," Max chuckled. "Except Penguinmon's more human."

"Shut up!" she responded.

Suddenly, almost spewing out of one of the alleyways came three Vilemon, flying toward the group. The one in the middle shouted "Nightmare Shocker!" and sent a dark energy shockwave from his mouth at Drimogemon, right on target. Drimogemon was knocked into the street and unconscious.

"Hey, who do you think you are?!"

"We're the Vilemon Gang!" one of the creatures said. "We don't intend on letting you all stay in this world!"

"Funny," Max said calmly, "we have the same intentions against you." Candlemon and Max looked at each other, smiling.

Max pulled out his DigiCell. "Initiate Digivolution Matrix!"

"Candlemon digivolve to… MERAMON!" Candlemon was now Meramon.

"FIRE CHARGE!" Meramon shouted, and he jumped at the Vilemon in midair swiftly and engulfed himself in more flame than usual. He ran into the middle one, knocking him out of the air. Though, there were still two left as Meramon landed on the sidewalk. Each one of them performed their Nightmare Shocker attacks on him, as he was knocked back and de-digivolved to Candlemon again.

"Candlemon!" Max shouted as he ran over to his fallen Digimon to care for him.

Penguinmon looked angrily at the two Vilemon still up in the air. She flapped her wings in a feeble attempt to fly, but to no avail.

One of the Vilemon laughed. "Nightmare Shocker!" he shouted and shot the attack at Penguinmon with so much force that she flopped into the water.

"No! Penguinmon!" Alexis cried out and she ran to the ledge of the seemingly unnatural river. Drimogemon lay in the street with one eye open, barely living.

Alexis crouched near the edge, crying. Her tears were dropping into the water, and slowly an object began to emerge from it. It was a DigiCell! This one appeared to have a purple trim.

Alexis slowly looked up at the object, now floating in the air in front of her. She gasped happily and snatched the Digivice from the air. "Who's laughing now, bullies?!" she said in an assuring voice. Without Alexis having to do anything, the device sent a beam of data from its antenna to the water, where Penguinmon began to emerge. She glowed brightly and began to morph her shape.

"Penguinmon digivolve to…" She then took the shape of an aquatic mammal, like a dolphin or a whale. "DOLPHMON!"

The light receded, and Penguinmon was indeed a dolphin Digimon. She was now bluish in color with white on her stomach.

"Sweet, my Digimon is Penguinmon!" Alexis said excitedly. Dolphmon was now in the water, her head the only thing popping out.

"Whatever!" one of the Vilemon said, and he shot yet another Nightmare Shocker, this time at Dolphmon.

Though, Dolphmon countered this attack. "SHAKING PULSE!" she shouted, and a shockwave of energy came from her mouth as well, parrying with the Vilemon's attack. The blast continued for several seconds, until Dolphmon's attack began to overpower the evil Digimon's. Vilemon's attack failed, and it was hit and fell out of the air.

Candlemon, now recovered, joined Max in taking care of the wounded Drimogemon. He didn't seem very long for this world. His data on his drill was slowly fading.

Two of the Vilemon down, Dolphmon had only one to go. "Everyone out of the way!" she shouted to her friends, as the dumb Vilemon remained in the air, confused.

The kids and Candlemon looked at Drimogemon. "Don't worry about me," he said. "All Digimon die eventually… but we're always reformatted." Reluctantly, Max nodded and ran with Alexis and Candlemon to the sidewalk.

Dolphmon did a large leap into the air. "Bon Voyage!" she shouted, and as she belly flopped into the water, a large wave was created, hitting the flying Vilemon and knocking him out of the air. All three Vilemon were in the street. The water flooded the road and some of the sidewalk. After the water had done its job, a large egg rolled onto the sidewalk. Alexis picked it up.

"A Digitama!" Candlemon said, looking at the large egg in Alexis' arms.

"Digitama? Oh, so they really DON'T die!" Max said in expectation. "They just re-materialize into big freakin' EGGS that we have to carry around."

"So you'd rather a living creature died?" Candlemon questioned Max's opinion.

"No, I'd just rather that my little sister didn't handle an egg the size of her body."

"I can do it!" Alexis insisted. "I'm not stupid."

Max chuckled at this. "Whatever, we gotta get across this river thing. Dolphmon, can you do that?"

"No problem!" she said in excitement.

"I wanna ride first!" Alexis said excitedly, jumping on the back of Dolphmon while she was in the water. One by one she took each of them to the other side of the river, and they then began to make their way to the castle.

The dirt road they traveled on was lined on the sides with gigantic bones, like dinosaur bones. Far ahead you could see the silhouette of a castle.

As they finally approached the large castle after about an hour, the kids saw two small, ninja-like ball Digimon as the guards. The kids tried to enter, but the two Digimon stopped them.

"Halt! State your purpose!" one of the Digimon stated firmly.

Max pulled out his DigiCell and scanned one of the guards and read his description off the holo-display. "Ninjamon. Champion Digimon. Special attack, Ninja Knife Throwing."

The Ninjamon both spotted the Digivice in Max's hand. "Oh, you're a DigiDestined!" one of them said. They lowered their blades and opened the gate to inside the castle. "Go on it, my friends!" said the other Ninjamon. "There's someone waiting for you." One of the Ninjamon offered to hold onto the Digitama Alexis was carrying, and she handed it to him.

The friends looked at each other, accepted the offer and continued into the castle.


	6. 5: Sorry, I Misplaced Your Phone

-1Chapter 5: Sorry, I Misplaced Your Phone…

"Well, now that the General has those rubies, I guess we should head to that castle," Jen planned outside the File City Police Station with Veemon, Jared and KoKabuterimon.

"Good idea, but by the time we get there, Max and Alexis will probably already be done," Jared noted.

Jen thought for a second. "Well, we should try to find the fifth Digidestined. I mean, we don't have much else to do while the others find that so-called castle."

"Good plan!" Veemon exclaimed.

Jen began to ruffle through her pockets for the golden DigiCell. When she thought she'd found it, she realized it was just hers. "Where'd I put that Digivice?!"

Jared looked a bit suspicious. "Uh… I think Max said something about you dropping it before we split up..."

Jen looked at him angrily. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" she shouted.

Jared seemed a bit scared of her anger. "Uh… he said another Digimon stole it off the ground so it wouldn't have mattered anyway…"

"Yes it would have! I would have been able to plan better!" Jen said frustrated. "How am I supposed to be a good leader when you guys keep making it so hard?"

Jared looked at Jen surprised. "Erm, excuse me, but one: who made you leader? And two: nobody said being the leader was gonna be easy."

"Well, I was the person who gathered us together and since we didn't have one, we needed one."

"Not really."

Jen sighed. "Whatever. We gotta find the Digimon who stole the Digivice. Did Max give a description of him?"

Jared thought a moment. "Wait, you're not mad that he didn't pick it up when he could have?"

"Err, no…"

Jared gasped. "Jenny likes Maaaaax! Jenny likes Maaaaaaax!"

Jen blushed. "No I don't!"

"Yeaaah you do!"

"Shut up, you little runt, or I'll break your skinny ass in half!" Jen looked serious in saying this. Jared immediately shut up. "Did he give a description or what?"

Jared shook his head no. "He said he moved too quick. We know that much at least."

"Well then what the hell do we do?"

- - -

Walking into the castle, Max, Candlemon, Alexis and Penguinmon all found it quite a spectacle. The two Ninjamon, who had been silent since they'd entered, lead the gang up the circular staircase to "the King's" room.

And man, this King guy had it made. His room was very large indeed, with a king size bed, a large dresser, and paintings on the walls and several servants of different kinds. Across the room was a large throne. Upon it was what appeared to be a large golden bowling ball with legs, arms, a crown and a frilly cape.

"Greetings, peasants, what may I do for you? Haha!" the "King" said in a cockney English voice.

Max's Digivice beeped and he pulled it out. "PrinceMamemon. Mega Level! His Smiley Warhead attack can demolish whole buildings!" he read off the holo-display.

"Mega level?" Candlemon wondered. "That's a legendary level… not many Digimon have digivolved that far…"

"Quite befitting for a legendary Digimon, if I do say so myself! Haha!" PrinceMamemon boasted.

"Wait… if you're a king, then why are you PRINCEMamemon?" Alexis wondered.

PrinceMamemon ignored this question. One of the servants entered the room with a tray of cookies. Max looked at this Digimon curiously. It was a small silver ball with arms and legs, just like the monster that had stolen the golden DigiCell.

Alexis' Digivice beeped and she pulled it out. "Mamemon. He's an Ultimate level Digimon. His special attack is Smiley Bomb," she read off the holo-display.

Max got a bit tempered. "That's the Digimon that stole Jen's Digivice!"

PrinceMamemon looked a little suspicious. "What do you mean, haha?"

Max turned to PrinceMamemon. "One of your servants stole my friend's Digivice! I want it back now!"

"There are a LOT of quick, silver Digimon out there, Max," Candlemon suggested. "I don't think we have a very narrow perspective as to who it was."

"I'm afraid I haven't an idea what you speak of! Haha!" PrinceMamemon replied. As he said this, Alexis noticed redness in his eyes.

"I'll be right back," she said. "I… have to use the bathroom." She began walking down the stairs on the opposite side of the room where they came in.

PrinceMamemon jumped from his throne. "Don't go down there!" he yelled after her suspiciously. "There's no bathrooms in the palace! Haha!" Even so, Alexis still proceeded.

Alexis headed to the area, which she found to be a very murky dungeon. There were several iron barred cells containing certain Digimon in each one. In one far down on the other side of the room, there was a cell containing a human child. The kid was around Alexis' age, with blonde, spiky hair, a red leather jacket and jean shorts. He was curled up in a ball, obviously napping.

From across the room, Alexis stared at him as PrinceMamemon came down the stairs. Candlemon, Max and Penguinmon were right behind him.

"You're not supposed to be down here, haha!" PrinceMamemon stuttered out.

"Well, now that we are," Max began, "we should do something about that kid in the cage, right?"

Candlemon floated over to the other side of the dungeon, to the cell with the kid in it. "Flame Bomber!" he shouted, as he burned the lock on the gate.

The lock burned off, yet the boy was still sleeping. "What are you fools doing? Haha!" PrinceMamemon exclaimed as Penguinmon waddled over to the cage and shook the boy to wake him up. He slowly opened his eyes and gazed around.

"Where am I…?" he asked right when he was done looking around.

"Ugh!" PrinceMamemon sighed. "He's my friend and he was taking a nap, haha. Don't torture the old bloke."

"I'm… not old, and I don't even know you," he said, which clued to a lot of things. "And that fake English accent is horrible."

Max and Alexis looked at PrinceMamemon as he had a nervous look on his face. His eyes began to glow red again, clearing his throat. He then gave them an angry look. "Smiley Warhead!" he said in a normal voice as he tossed a bomb straight at the ground. It seemed like the dungeon had exploded in a cloud of smoke and flame.

But as the smoke cleared, nothing happened. The smoke was gone, and so was PrinceMamemon.

"What just happened?" Alexis asked nobody in particular.

"Like I would know," the boy that they'd saved said. "I'm Akira, by the way."

"Alright, that narrows options down for us a lot," Max said sarcastically. Max appointed himself the lead, and he showed Akira and the Digimon up the stairs as Candlemon burned all the locks on all the cells and Penguinmon opened the gate doors.

Each of the monsters made their ways up the staircase and through PrinceMamemon's room and to the staircase across the room. It took about 5 minutes to get down to the main entrance room of the castle.

At the exit, a couple of Ninjamon guards stopped Akira and a few prisoner Digimon at the door. "No escape," they said in a synchronized manner as their eyes began to glow red. Akira, as he was running for the door, slipped and fell as he approached them. The others were watching this from afar as the guards stomped up to him, laughing menacingly.

One of the prisoners, a star-shaped Digimon, got sick of this. "Meteor Stream!" he shouted as he shot meteor rocks from outside into the castle through the doors at the Ninjamon guards. Each of the doors broke open and the meteors hit the two, as they fell forward. The prisoner Digimon stormed out of the castle, trampling over the guards.

Akira got to his feet and thanked the heroic Digimon. "My name's Starmon, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said as he shook Akira's hand.

As they did this, though, the two Ninjamon got back up of their feet rather quickly. Eyes still red, they simultaneously launched a jump kick attack at Starmon and he was knocked back across the main room.

After this, the two stood defiantly over Starmon's hurt body. They then closed their eyes, grabbed each other's hand and began to glow brightly. They both turned into data streams and slowly their data formed together to make a new being.

As the white light receded, the being appeared to be a small purple ball with two horns and two arms floating above the ground with no legs. In its hand was a chainsaw and it had a malicious look on its face.

"Giromon!" Max read off his holo-display. "An ultimate level! It says the two Ninjamon DNA Digivolved into him… whatever that means."

"Well, that doesn't sound very helpful for us," Akira said in fear.

"Big Bang Boom!" Giromon shouted as he tossed a small red bomb at Starmon's body, which was still on the ground yet still conscious. Before the tiny bomb blew, Starmon jumped into the air quickly to avoid much of the attack. Though, he was still hit by the explosion slightly, and stumbled as he dodged the attack.

Starmon landed on his feet, but held his chest. "That was… a bit of a challenge," he said, panting.

As Starmon stood there, Max sent Candlemon to attack Giromon. "Flame Bomber!" he shouted, and he fired a flaming ball at the Ultimate Digimon, hitting him but barely affecting him.

"Chainsaw!" Giromon yelled and he revved up his weapon to attack Candlemon. As he did this, the golden Digivice materialized in the air near Akira.

Akira snatched the Digivice out of the air and held it in his hand. As he did this, a beam of energy was shot out of the antenna directly at Starmon. His body began to glow as Giromon charged at Candlemon, ready to attack the helpless Rookie.

"Starmon hyper digivolve to…" His body became quite small and round, with two arms and two legs as appendages.

"MAMEMON!" he shouted as the white light receded. When it did so, he looked exactly like one of the other servants of the castle, a small silvery ball Digimon.

"Smiley Bomb!" Mamemon shouted as he tossed a small red bomb like Giromon's at him, exploding much faster than his and causing him to fly backwards. The attack Giromon charged at Candlemon had failed.

Giromon lay on the floor, dematerializing into data. As he closed his eyes, the last of is energy floated into the air outside and Mamemon de-digivolved into Starmon. A red ruby appeared where Giromon is, and Starmon walked over to pick it up.

"Whew!" Starmon said right after the battle. Akira came to his side, his DigiCell in hand. "So… you're my partner now or something?"

Starmon looked at Akira, being nearly the same 4-foot height as him. "Yes, it would be an honor."

Max looked at Akira in jealousy. "How come _your_ Digimon got to digivolve into Ultimate form using another kid's Digivice, and you just got him?"

Akira chuckled. "I wish I knew, but it was pretty cool, huh Starmon?"

Starmon chuckled. "Mmhmm. I think we should discuss things, too, though. I think Akira and I should get to know what your purpose is here."

"Good plan," Max said. He heard his DigiCell beep and he pulled it out of his pocket to answer. He flipped it open. "Hello?… Okay, I guess we can meet you there…Yeah, and we found a new kid that can use your Digivice!…It's not yours?…Oh, haha. Alright then…Yup, bye." He closed his Digivice and put it back in his pocket.

"Was that Jen?" Alexis asked.

"Who's Jen?" Akira also asked.

"An ally of ours. She's really nice, and I think Max likes her!" Alexis giggled.

Max ignored Alexis. "Jen says we should meet her at the File City police station." The gang began to exit out the doors, where several of the prisoner Digimon were.

"Oh, thank you very much for saving us!" said a Palmon.

"Yes, it was the bravest thing we've seen any human do!" a Gaomon exclaimed.

Max looked falsely modest. "It was nothing, really!"

The celebration was soon silenced as PrinceMamemon appeared floating in the air near the castle. His eyes were very red. "SMILY WARHEAD!" he shouted in a deep voice as he tossed a round red bomb at the prisoners as they all flew backwards from the explosion. Each Digimon lay on the ground, steadily dematerializing into basic looking Digitama.

The gang backed up a bit after seeing this explosion, as it almost hit them. PrinceMamemon then launched another bomb onto the castle, though this bomb was much larger than the last. The impact caused an even more massive explosion, not only destroying the castle, but knocking the kids and their Digimon back as well.

When the dust and smoke cleared, their Digimon weren't there, but what remained were Candlemon, Penguinmon and Starmon's in-training forms. Each of the little Digimon was on the ground with their eyes closed, as the children were lying there, bruised and tattered.

"Did something… bad happen, Max?" the fiery In-Training version of Candlemon, DemiMeramon, asked.

"I think so, bud…" Max responded weakly, picking himself up off the dirt ground. He then helped Alexis and Akira up. Tsunomon, or "Penguinmon", and Tokomon, or "Starmon" hopped over. Max pulled out his DigiCell to check if it still worked. Since it did, he flipped it open and contacted Jen. After several seconds of waiting, there was no answer. "All I'm getting from Jen is fuzz. But my Digivice works perfectly fine… I hope she's not in trouble."

"She may be expecting us at the police station," Tsunomon suggested as Alexis picked her up. "We should make our way there."

Max nodded. "Good plan. They're probably –patiently- waiting for us and we're delaying them with our troubles."

- - -

"WHERE THE HELL ARE THE OTHERS?!" Jen screamed as a chimera-like Digimon flew under the night filled skies of File City. Though, this monster wasn't the nicest Data Digimon, as he was knocking over each building in his path with one of his large arms. This Digimon seemed to have the physical features of several different monsters, like Greymon's lower body or Angemon's wings.

"Heat Viper!" he shouted as he blasted a beam of heated energy at the street Jen, Jared, Veedramon and KoKabuterimon were running in. They quickly turned a corner into an alley when the attack was fired.

"Got a plan, Glasses?" Veedramon asked Jared. Glasses seemed to be his nickname for the boy.

"Not anything worth noting…" he responded.

"Maybe I should digivolve?" KoKabuterimon suggested.

"No," Jared said, opening a holo-display on his Digivice. "Kimeramon's a Mega level Digimon, neither you nor Veedramon stand a chance."

"I can still try!" Veedramon shouted positively as he rushed out the alleyway, ready to attack.

"Veedramon, you idiot!" Jen shouted, chasing after him.

"V-NOVA BLAST!" Veedramon shouted, spewing a blue V-shaped flame from his mouth at the gigantic Kimeramon. The attack landed, but didn't affect him very much. Kimeramon responded by smacking Veedramon with its Kuwagamon arm. Jen, Jared and KoKabuterimon watched this unfold in horror in the alley. They then saw Kimeramon fly over their heads, seemingly not noticing them and continuing to destroy the city.

The three ran out of the alley to find a smaller version of Veemon lying in the street, tired from the attack. Jen ran over to tend to him as the buildings around her tumbled and burned to the ground.

"Veemon, are you okay?!"

"I'm… DemiVeemon," he responded weakly. "I'm okay… I just need to…" he then closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Jared was fiddling with his DigiCell, trying to get a hold of their friends. "No connection," Jared sighed.

Jen shrugged. "I can't believe we're in this whole mess. Let's head out to the forest again. That's the direction Kimeramon came from."

"So we're gonna go TO the thing that's hunting us down?" KoKabuterimon questioned.

"Yeah," Jared thought for a second. "But we could get rid of any Digimon that are preparing to destroy us there, too."

"What about the others?" KoKabuterimon asked.

Jen looked around at the abandoned streets frantically. She looked at Jared's Digivice in his hand. "Try to make KoKabuterimon digivolve."

"What?" Jared looked surprised.

"Try."

"What if he virus digivolves to Kuwagamon again?"

"We might have to risk it. I have an idea."

Jared sighed and looked at his partner. They nodded at each other. "Initiate Digivolution Matrix!"

"KoKabuterimon digivolve to… BladeKuwagamon!" the Digimon shouted, as he Digivolve to his Champion form once again.

"Okay, guy, now fly into the sky in a beam of light."

Jared looked at Jen rudely. "How dare you order my Digimon?"

"What were YOU gonna tell him to do? Probably the same thing, Glasses," Jen joked.

"Spark Blade!" BladeKuwagamon shouted as he began to glow and created a magnificent light show in the night air.


	7. 6: Regrouping the Group

Chapter 6: Regrouping the Group

"I see something!" Alexis shouted, pointing at the section of sky lit up by BladeKuwagamon.

"I'm willing to bet that light's a sign," Max said. "That's it! Jen's signaling us."

"Let's hurry up and get to the city!" Akira said excitedly, but this soon can to a halt as they saw a gigantic figure flying toward them on the same trail they were on. Max and Alexis had no idea who this was, but Akira could tell just from where they were.

"Kimeramon…"

Max and Alexis looked at Akira confused. "Who what huh?" Max asked stupidly.

"Look out!" DemiMeramon said as he floated to the side of the street and the others did the same.

Kimeramon seemed to continue to approach them, but stopped. He jerked his head up a bit, as if he sensed something. He then turned around to fly the other way, ignoring the others.

"I think he's going after our friends! We gotta stop him!" Tsunomon yelled. She jumped out of Alexis' arms and DemiMeramon floated next to her. They both shined a bright light.

"_DemiMeramon digivolve to… __**Candlemon!**_"

"_Tsunomon digivolve to… __**Penguinmon!**_"

Tokomon watched them attack the Kimeramon from behind. "You fools! Don't do that!"

But the two ignored Tokomon and attacked. "Flame Bomber!" "Power Slap!" they each shouted. Candlemon threw a small fireball at Kimeramon while Penguinmon jumped up in the air and smacked him swiftly multiple times.

Though, these Rookie attacks did not phase him and he fought back, knocking the two partner Digimon to the side and landing in the street. "A fight is what you get!" Kimeramon said in a deep, hoarse voice.

- - -

Jen noticed something in the far distance behind them. "I see a silhouette over there…"

Jared and KoKabuterimon turned around. "Whoa… it looks much like Kimeramon. Max and Alexis and the new kid must still be over there!"

"They might be in trouble… but how will we make it there in time?!" Jen looked at the DemiVeemon in her arms. "Hey, dude… you think you're up for a little ride?"

DemiVeemon opened his eyes. "Yeah, I'm up for anything to get us out of here."

"Alright." Jen tossed DemiVeemon into the air and pulled out her DigiCell. "Initiate Digivolution Matrix!"

- - -

"Candlemon!"

"Penguinmon!"

"Patamon!"

The kids, in combat against a Mega level Digimon, were being easily beaten by the giant Digimon's superior attacks.

"Scissor Claw!" Kimeramon shouted as he used his Kuwagamon arm to slash at the Digimon. This knocked them backwards but none of them gave up, and they didn't de-digivolve.

"We have no choice, guys! It's Champion time!" Max ordered as he pulled out his DigiCell prepared to use it. "Initiate Digivolution Matrix!" each of the three kids shouted, using their DigiCells once again.

"_Candlemon digivolve to… __**Meramon!**_"

"_Penguinmon digivolve to… __**Dolphmon!**_"

"_Patamon digivolve to… __**Starmon!**_"

Now before them were not three Rookie Digimon, but three Champions.

"Fireball!" Meramon shouted, tossing a deep red flame at Kimeramon.

"Dolphin Kick!" Dolphmon shouted as she flopped into the air and smacked Kimeramon with her tail fin.

"Meteor Stream!" Starmon shouted, raising his arms into the air and sending several small meteorites at Kimeramon, knocking him to the ground at last.

Kimeramon then recovered from the attack, but seemingly gave up. He hopped into the air and flew away to the east.

"I think we got him for now," Alexis said proudly as her Digimon as well as Max's de-digivolved. Starmon remained the same.

"We don't have ANYTHING for now," Starmon said, walking back to the kids. "Kimeramon was just weak for the moment, and we got lucky."

When all was said and done, Max and Alexis spotted a few silhouetted figures in the distance. These were their friends. "Jen! Jared!" Max shouted at the gang.

The figures then became visible, and they could see Veedramon carrying Jen and KoKabuterimon flying with Jared on his back. When they came close enough to them, they came to a stop and the kids got off their Digimon.

"Hey, you guys alright?" Jen asked as she jumped off of Veedramon's shoulder.

"Never better," Max sarcastically remarked. "Couldn't you have come any faster?"

Jen looked at Max angrily. "I'm lucky Veemon could digivolve to Veedramon to get me here! There was no way I was gonna run over here to get YOU!"

"Nice of you to put your feet in front of your friends' safety!"

"Who says you're my friend?"

The group fell silent at that moment, as Max looked surprised, but quickly shifted his look to seem careless. "Not that I need a friend like you anyway!" The silence continued for several moments before Jared said something.

"Ooookay then, let's get on our way to the forest, eh?"

- - -

"How much further until we get there?" Akira asked, whining.

"Yeah, my feet are tired!" Alexis also whined.

Jen scoffed. "Not like I can measure in digi-feet, can I?" She adjusted her wristbands and looked over at Jared. "This is about time for an 'according to my calculations' moment, Glasses."

"Ha ha ha. A nerd cliché, how funny," he responded sarcastically. Max kept quiet during this whole ordeal. Now on a new trail just off of the one to the castle, the gang was on its way around the island to get to File Forest, where Kimeramon had come from and probably was now. This trail, like the one before, was lined on the sides with gigantic bones.

Though, KoKabuterimon stopped for a second. "I sense something is nearby…"

"Like what?" Jared asked, interested. Without word, KoKabuterimon jumped up into the air and quickly flew off into the sky.

"I wonder what's up with him," Jen wondered.

"I dunno, but that worries me. What's gonna happen to him if he goes off too far without me?"

"Let's keep going. KoKabuterimon's pretty smart, he'll catch up with us," Max said calmly.

Jared looked behind one last time. "You're right. Let's go." The gang continued on the trail for a few more minutes. They stop when they hear a loud, buzzing noise.

"Do you guys hear that?" Veemon asked. "It sounds funny."

"Yeah," Akira queried. "It doesn't sound friendly, either."

"Let's move faster, Jen, maybe we can outrun it." Veemon seemed calm in saying this.

"Wait," Jared stopped them all, but something interrupted what he was about to say. A shadow appeared upon their heads as a large, insect Digimon flew above them. It looked vaguely familiar to something from before.

The monster landed in front of them on the trail and growled a bit. Jen pulled out her Digivice to scan it.

"Okuwamon! An Ultimate level Digimon!" she read off the holo display. "He doesn't look too nice…"

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Veemon exclaimed. "We can take him without KoKabuterimon, right?"

"Right!" each of the other partner Digimon replied. Each child pulled out their DigiCell reluctantly, prepared to fight.

"Wait, but guys---" Jared began, but he was quickly interrupted.

"Initiate Digivolution Matrix!" Jen, Max and Alexis shouted.

Akira looked at Starmon. "Initiate Hyper Digivolution!"

"_Veemon digivolve to… __**Veedramon!**_"

"_Candlemon digivolve to… __**Meramon!**_"

"_Penguinmon digivolve to… __**Dolphmon!**_"

"_Starmon hyper digivolve to… __**Mamemon!**_" Each Digimon was now charging at Okuwamon.

"V-Nova Blast!"

"Fire Charge!"

"Pulse Blast!"

"Smiley Bomb!"

Each Digimon attacked, but the blast isn't enough to neutralize Okuwamon. "Double Scissors Claw!" he shouted as he slashed at the Digimon, knocking each of them back and injuring them. Veedramon and Meramon hopped back up, ready for more.

"Hammer Punch!" Veedramon pulled his arm back and sent a forceful punch at Okuwamon.

"Roaring Flame!" Meramon ignited himself in more flame than normal, tossing himself at Okuwamon.

The evil bug Digimon was finally phased by the attacks and stumbled a bit. Jared, in the back of the group of kids, looked angry and helpless. "KoKabuterimon, where are you?!" he shouted.

"Alright, Jen, we should use tactics this time!" Max said as if he was ordering her.

"No way, buddy, we're doing my way: brute force! Show him, Veedramon!"

"V-Nova Blast!" Veedramon shouted again and spewed a V-shaped blue flame at Okuwamon, but he was not truly affected by this attack.

"Beetle Horn Attack!" Okuwamon shouted as he charged at Veedramon, encasing him in his clawed mandibles. Veedramon struggled but seemingly could not escape.

"Veedramon, you can do it!" Jen shouted from the sidelines. Meramon, tired from his attack, went in to help Veedramon.

"Fireball!" Meramon shouted, tossing a large ball of red flame at Okuwamon's mandibles, releasing Veedramon from his grip.

"See?" Max said to Jen matter-of-factly. "If we can come up with a group strategy, we can win this!"

Jen looked at Max and smiled. "You're right, you corn dog."

At this moment, two DigiChips materialized in front of Jen and Max. Staring at them a moment, they snatched them out of the air. Looking at each other, they ejected their original chips out of their DigiCells and attempted to insert the new ones. Though, when trying to do so, electricity surged from the slot and shocked their fingers. Since the old ones disconnected, Veedramon and Meramon de-digivolved to their Rookie forms.

"What the… why won't it work?!" Jen said in frustration. The two Rookies escaped from the battle as Mamemon and Dolphmon got back in the fight.

"Dolphin Kick!" Dolphmon shouted, leaping into the air and smacking Okuwamon in the head with her tail fin. This only slightly dazed him as he re-gathered his sanity.

After the hit, Okuwamon began to de-materialize into a rookie Digimon. It was KoKabuterimon!"

"I knew it!" Jared shouted, running to his injured partner. "Why is he doing this so much?"

KoKabuterimon lay on the ground in the middle of the trail. "Yeah… but maybe it didn't all go away," Akira said in his normal, quiet voice.

Mamemon quickly de-digivolved into his Rookie form, a metallic-silver version of Patamon.

"Hey, wait," Jen wondered. "Aren't you the new guy? You weren't around for Guardromon's arrival."

Akira was quiet for a moment. "I know. I think Patamon would like to speak with you all, though."


	8. 7: Patamon Knows Best

Chapter 7: Patamon Knows Best

The kids woke up the next day at their campsite in File Forest, deep within a wooded area. Veemon came walking back to the site, carrying several Digimon's pelts on his back. Jared was at KoKabuterimon's side, helping him rest. Jen, Max, Candlemon, Alexis, Akira, Penguinmon and Patamon were sitting in a circle around the fire, discussing their situation.

"So Patamon, what did you wanna talk about first?" Jen asked.

"I guess urgent things come first," Patamon began. "Warm up your butts, this is gonna be a long one.

"The DigiWorld was first laid to foundation by the first computers ever used for communication. At that instant, data collected and formed together a sort of alternate plane that reflected everything the data was from. NASA data on stars would form into Star Digimon, like me, and information on mountains would create regions of such in our land.

"This creation also seemed to lead to disaster. Creation of data meant creation of viruses, and one of the worst of them is Kimeramon. He's the culmination of a small amount of every viral Digimon's data that's been deleted, and he's been around since the beginning of our time."

"But Kimeramon has parts of Angemon and MetalGreymon," Veemon brought to question, sitting down. "Aren't they good Digimon?"

"That is true," Patamon continued. "But the viral data also mixes with data of other Digimon too. The final result is evil, but in essence the original coding is vaccine.

"Though, Kimeramon has existed for a long time, and even the strongest of well-developed viruses die at some point. But Kimeramon's death by natural data wearing away is causing the virus to slowly make its way out of Kimeramon and into other aspects of the Digital World. This may explain the alleged virus in that food from McBurgermon's passing on to KoKabuterimon." KoKabuterimon opened his eyes and looked over at Patamon, but quickly fell asleep again. "It's also what caused the once good PrinceMamemon to become significantly more ruthless.

"The only way to truly keep the Digital World from being completely taken over by the virus is to destroy it by unnatural means. This of course means fighting the monster himself and defeating him quickly enough to contain his data and remove it from existence."

"Like deleting a file on your computer?" Jen asked.

"That's correct," Patamon continued. "But this is a really big file to delete in a limited amount of time. You know how it takes a while to download a file onto your computer from the Internet, for instance?" The kids nodded. "We don't even have that time to contain Kimeramon's coding. We have to get rid of the source completely. If we do so, the DigiWorld will rid itself of any excess viral coding created by Kimeramon automatically."

"But what's in it for the Real World?" Jen questioned. "I mean, what's to stop us from heading back there now and forgetting about you guys?"

Jared thought about this quicker than Patamon could answer. "I'd say if the Digital World is enveloped by this thing, that means this world is deleted and we have no means of communication technology in the real world."

"Correct," Patamon began again. "This means telephones, computers, television and much of modern communication technology would be shut down. That means 100 years of technological advancement would have to be re-developed. This, in the meantime, gives any surviving data enough time to form into a Digimon and make its way into the real world via splitting up in data mainframes in the Real World and assimilating there. Broken connections means broken gateways between the Real and Digital Worlds. For all we know… the two worlds may collapse on each other and merge."

"Going back to the Real World is out of the question either way. Nobody has found a logical gateway back yet," Candlemon added.

"Kimeramon's actions have already taken a significant effect, as you can all tell. That Guardromon you guys apparently have run into is a Digimon created by Kimeramon's virus alone. This is only the beginning, as well. Guardromon may soon learn to digivolve even further than he has, and the combination of Kimeramon and Guardromon's Mega form may prove to be unstoppable. According to legend, Kimeramon has done this before."

"Erm," Jared butted in, looking at KoKabuterimon. "Guardromon spawned from viral data coming out of my Digimon."

"The viral data is probably from Kimeramon anyway," Patamon answered.

"But that connection gateway thing," Max wondered. "Couldn't we do that to get back to the Real World?"

"That's a process I've been working out for a while," Patamon explained some more. "If we can find a way to gain access to a gate without breaking the Real World's communication connection, we could get you guys back there safely. Humans are harder to transport via gateways, in theory, since they're not made of raw data." Akira blinked.

"So our basic mission is to completely destroy the largest viral Digimon in the Digital World in as short of a time as possible?" Jen asked.

"Yes, basically."

Jen paused and stared at Patamon.

"So people without knowledge of the situation will be prone to this," Jared thought. "And the more who are unaware, then the easier it is for Digimon to get to the Real World. I guess we should get to solving this."

"It's pretty early in the morning," Veemon said, yawning. "I got these furs for nothing if we leave now!"

"It's best we get out of here anyway," Patamon said. "In this world, if someone's after you, staying in one spot for a long time isn't smart."

"Right," Jen said. "We should get on track now before Kimeramon or Guardromon comes around here." She looked at Veemon. "Could ya get me a ride?"

"No problem! Say the words when you're ready, Jenmon."

Jen smiled. Jared looked at KoKabuterimon, lying on the ground. He was still hurt. "Would you mind carrying KoKabuterimon too, Veemon? He's still achy from yesterday."

"Sure, no problem!" he exclaimed.

Veemon looked over at all the other Digimon. He realized most of them didn't have much in the way of faster travels. "Aww, do I have to open a freakin' taxi service or something?"

Max chuckled. "Don't worry, Veemon. We'll walk!" Veemon sighed in relief.

Jen pulled out her Digivice. "Initiate Digivolution Matrix!"

"_Veemon digivolve to… __**Veedramon!**_"

Jen hopped onto Veedramon as he lifted KoKabuterimon onto his other shoulder with his right arm. "Aaaand, we're off!" Jen said smiling. Each of the others walked, with Patamon on Akira's shoulder.

"Patamon… you have wings," Akira said, sighing. "Why don't you use them?"

Patamon chuckled. "What fun would THAT be?"

- - -

The kids walked for a while through the forest, Max whistling annoyingly along the way. "Stop that," Veedramon whined in a deep voice.

Jen was quiet for most of the walk until she asked something rather random. "Do we even know much about each other? How did we all get here? What were we like back on Earth?"

The kids thought for a moment and Akira kept quiet, like he didn't hear what she said. Max seemed to want to go first.

"Well… Alexis and I were in my bedroom arguing while I plugged my mp3 player into my computer to put some more songs on it…" he stopped for a moment, recalling what had happened. "I remember right when I put it in there my computer turned on without me touching any buttons. Then we wound up in the water where we saw Submarimon, who brought us to you guys."

"That's how you guys happened to get here?" Jen asked rhetorically. "All I did was go to pick up my charging cell phone and I saw a bright light." Jen remembered more than just that. "Then I was here."

Jared thought for a sec. "I was at school and I was putting in my jump drive to put something in from home. Last I remember someone asked me to help them, then a white light, and I was in the forest."

"Well…" Jen was still desperate for conversation. "What country you all from?"

Each of the kids, minus Akira, spoke simultaneously. "Japan."

They looked around curiously and laughed. Max had an idea. "What CITY are you from, though?"

The kids again responded simultaneously, minus Akira. "Osaka."

The kids didn't laugh this time, so they just shrugged. "Co-inki-dink," Alexis said, giggling.

Akira was still silent. "So how did you get here, Akira?" Jared asked.

He looked up from his silence. "Well, I---"

The sound of mechanical footsteps and explosions quickly interrupted him. In the distance to their side they could see the forest trees falling down from the blasts. "Destruction Grenade!" could clearly be heard in the distance.

"Guardromon," Jared said, looking to his side at the destruction. Several more of the trees were falling, and the pattern was coming closer.

Veedramon put Jen and KoKabuterimon down on the ground and cracked his knuckles. "What the hell are you doing, Veedramon?!" Jen yelled.

"I'm taking care of this guy once and for all," he said in confidence. "Candlemon, you with me?" He nodded, and Max prepared his Digivice.

"Initiate Digivolution Matrix!"

"_Veemon digivolve to… __**VEEDRAMON!**_"

"_Candlemon digivolve to… __**MERAMON!**_"

The two Champions charged through the wooded area of the forest, knocking down many of the standing trees in their way until they got to Guardromon.

"We're taking you out now!" Meramon declared, charging his fists with flame and the others running behind them. Guardromon seemed unfazed by any of this talk. His eyes then began to glow red.

"Alert! Alert! Overdrive! Overdrive!" Guardromon's alarm apparently sounded as he flashed a white aura and quickly self-destructed. In an instant, the entire forest around him was decimated into nothing but rare tree stumps and smoldering branches. The kids were huddled up, expecting the worst. But they were left unharmed.

Each of the kid's Digivices was shining its respective trim color. Everyone around them was completely protected by this energy, besides the fact that everyone de-digivolved to their In-Training forms.

Left of Guardromon was only a lingering piece of data energy where the explosion had originated. The data of the forest also hung in the air, apparently not going anywhere. The data from Guardromon, though, seemingly began to absorb the data around it like a vacuum. The data took its own form, slowly materializing into a new Digimon.

Everybody was on the ground by now. Jen looked over at the forming monster, then at DemiVeemon. "What the hell is that data doing?"

Tokomon, Starmon's In-Training, looked up from Akira's lap. "Guardromon's remnants are absorbing the forest's data…"

The shape finally formed.

"…to become Gigadramon."

The kids slowly began to stand up, helping their Digimon up as well. KoKabuterimon stayed on the ground. They stared at the newly formed monster, which resembled a dragon with a gray body. Its wings were metallic and for hands it had two drills, which could split into claws.

Jen looked down at DemiVeemon. "Can you make this?"

DemiVeemon scratched his head. "I can't hold anything for very long… but if you can, try."

Each of the kids pulled out their Digivice. "Initiate Digivolution Matrix!"

"_DemiVeemon digivolve to_—"

"_DemiMeramon digivolve to_—"

"_Frimon digivolve to_—"

"_Tsunomon digivolve to_—"

"_Tokomon digivolve to_—"

Gigadramon began to chuckle menacingly. "You Digimon haven't the strength to Digivolve to Champion! My destructive explosion negated that potential!" The kids cringed.

Looking frustrated, Akira shifted through the inside of his jacked for something. After a moment, he pulled out a DigiChip.

Jen looked at Akira, surprised. "Where… did you get that?" Without another word, Akira ejected his old DigiChip and put the other one in.

"Initiate Hyper Digivolution!"

"Whaaa?" Max looked very oddly at Tokomon as he began to digivolve.

"Tokomon digivolve to… Patamon digivolve to… Starmon hyper digivolve to… Mamemon!"

Akira smiled. "Time for action, Mamemon!" Swiftly, Mamemon jumped into the air and towards Gigadramon, his fist forward. He sent a powerful punch at Gigadramon's face, knocking him back a bit.

Gigadramon still retaliated, though. "Genocide Claw!" he shouted, slashing at Mamemon and knocking him aside. This didn't seem to bother him, though. Energy began to charge from Akira's Digivice even still, and it hit Mamemon as he got up.

"Mamemon, slide digivolution! MetalMamemon!" The new version of Mamemon wielded a large cannon on his left arm and a 3-pronged claw on his right, while still maintaining his small stature.

"How did he slide digivolve?!" Jen demanded. "Our Digimon haven't even gotten that strong yet!"

MetalMamemon leaped into the air, charging his cannon. "Energetic Bomb!" MetalMamemon shouted, blasting at Gigadramon with a blast of magnetic energy. The power of the blast knocked Gigadramon far back and onto the ground.

"Well, he's pretty tough for such a cute little guy," Jen giggled.

"Why can't YOU do that, Tsunomon?" Alexis whined at her Digimon.

After MetalMamemon's attack, Gigadramon struggled to recover. Getting back up, he began to fly away. MetalMamemon didn't bother to go after him, since he was flying at quick speeds, and returned to the others, de-digivolving to Starmon.

"That was pretty cool, dude," Max said toward the returning ally, "but how come you can do that already?"

"I'm one of the oldest living pieces of data in the Digital World," Starmon explained. "I've naturally evolved to that stage tons of times. I guess it's just second nature."

"Huh?" Jen wondered. "Since when are you old?"

"Since the Digital World's creation," Starmon laughed, "How do you think I know so much? Do I look like one of those old, wise sages that are just accepted as smart?"

Jen chuckled. "Let's get out of this hellhole."

"But where are we going?" Alexis wondered.

"Primary Village sounds good right now," Akira suggested. "We could get that Drimogemon egg that you guys lost back at the castle."

Max stared at Akira. "How do you know about the e—"

"Alright, Primary Village it is!" Jen interrupted, leading the kids onto another trail.


	9. 8: the Digi or the Egg?

Chapter 8: …the Digimon or the Egg?

The kids wound up on a trail that jutted off the one through the forest. DemiVeemon and the other partner Digimon were complaining of hunger. "When do we get to eaaaat?"

Jen looked down at DemiVeemon, who was in her arms. "I'm sure the caretaker of this village place will have some food for ya." DemiVeemon sighed in relief.

"Hey, Akira," Max turned to the child, "where did you get that chip you used? Ours don't work very well..."

Akira stopped and thought for a moment. "Uh, I dunno. I just found it in my jacket while I was at PrinceMamemon's castle."

"Man," Max said with a sigh. "You got a pretty lucky jacket." He examined his white muscle shirt. DemiMeramon giggled, floating in the air right by Max as they walked.

Tokomon thought for a second in Akira's arms. "I wonder if Leomon is still the caretaker over there. I haven't become a Digitama in a while now."

"Leomon?" Max wondered. "I'm guessing he's a lion, right?" Tokomon chuckled and nodded.

"Cool!" Alexis exclaimed. "Lions are the best animals ever!"

DemiVeemon looked up at Jen. "Animal? What's an animal, Jenmon?"

Jen looked down at her Digimon, then looked ahead at her trail. "I'll tell you later." She noticed a bit of scenery instead of a continuing trail up ahead. "Is that the village?"

Akira looked ahead. "I believe so."

As the kids neared the village, they noticed it looked like a very child inspired grassy plain area. Several large toy blocks were placed randomly around the plain with different designs on them.

A large lion Digimon approached the kids as they entered the area. He didn't look too happy about their arrival, either. "Stop! What business do humans have in my village, let alone the Digital World?"

Akira approached the lion Digimon with Tokomon in his arms. "Please, we're looking for an area to rest with our In-Training Digimon."

"How am I supposed to trust you? You're mere children!"

Each of the kids pulled out their Digivices and showed them to Leomon. "Oh, so you're the rumored Digidestined! It's good to see that there are others willing to help protect our world. You're welcome to the village if you like." Leomon gestured a fancy bow. "I'm sorry for my impoliteness."

The kids smiled and let their Digimon loose into the village. Around were several other Fresh and In-Training Digimon for them to play with, as well as several incubated Digitama. As their Digimon played around in the area, the kids walked over to a nearby lake to relax.

Jen and Max kicked off their shoes and socks and dipped their feet into the water. "This world's pretty different, ain't it?" Max tried to open a conversation.

Jen smiled. "Yeah, and some of these monsters are pretty cute." She giggled for a second. "They kinda remind me of my Pokemon days…"

Max started to laugh. "You loser. You played Pokemon?"

Jen blushed with a frustrated look on her face. "I was only 8, okay? It was cool back then."

Max shrugged. "Whatever works for you. Dork."

Jen looked away from him. "You know, you're a jerk sometimes. Why are you on my team again?"

Max sighed. "You're the only good leader out there, I guess…" he blushed. "N-not that I like you or anything. It's just your team is the most logical one. I mean, we're all humans and that Kimeramon dude reminds me of a serial killer or something."

Jen smiled and nodded sarcastically. "You're so cute when you try to be all secretive."

"I'm not keeping any secrets! I'm just saying…"

Suddenly, DemiVeemon and DemiMeramon sneaked up behind the pair.

"Hey, Jenmon," DemiVeemon giggled, "we got a couple of friends here who are claiming to be Drimogemon!"

Behind the two partner Digimon were two identical-looking In-Training Digimon. They appeared to be little pink balls with faces and thin, flopping ears.

One of them hopped up into the air. "I'm Koromon! But I used to be Drimogemon!"

The other one argued. "No, I'M Koromon, and I used to be Drimogemon." The two bickered on for a few moments until they came to a decision.

"Okay, so he was the one who used to be Drimogemon, not me," the Koromon on the left stated. "But I was always a cooler Champion!"

The right Koromon scoffed. "Yeah, right, loser!" The kids stared oddly at the identical pair.

Max giggled. "You know, Jen, those two sound a lot like we just did."

Jen looked over at Max. "Whatever floats your boat."

At this moment, the kids noticed several of the Fresh and In-Training monsters running towards them, some of them shouting or whining.

"Help! There's a mean Digimon in the village and he's hurt Leomon!" a Yuramon yelled as it ran toward the lake.

Jen and Max nodded at each other. "Hey, guys!" Jen shouted at the rest of the group, who were at another end of the lake. "We got trouble!" They then pulled out their Digivices and looked at their In-Training partners.

"_DemiVeemon digivolve to… __**Veemon!**_"

"_DemiMeramon digivolve to… __**Candlemon!**_"

Jen and Max chose not to wait for the others and ran to the other side of the village. They saw a small, blue, rock-like monster fighting a weakened Leomon.

Jen read a holo-display for the Digimon off of her DigiCell. "Icemon, a Champion level Digimon! It's a digivolved form of Gotsumon, and instead of rock powers, it uses ice!"

As he knocked Leomon down, Icemon noticed the two children interfering. "Do you really think you're gonna stop me?" he laughed as he leaped into the air to several different Digitama. One by one he cracked open the eggs and quickly absorbed their data.

Jen was shocked at his actions. "That's not right! We have to stop him!"

Veemon looked back and noticed the two Koromon running back to them as well as the other kids and their Digimon. The other partners were at their Rookie forms as well.

"We have to follow that crazy Icemon!" Candlemon shouted, running after him. The others followed.

Icemon had absorbed many of the Digitama eggs by now. "I'm too strong to be stopped!" he yelled, beating his chest like Tarzan. Although he was a small as your normal Rookie level, he seemed quite fierce.

Veemon and Candlemon lead an attack.

"Vee Head Butt!"

"Flame Bomber!" These attacks hit Icemon with a strong force, but the Flame Bomber was most effective.

"_Ice_mon. Of course!" Max shouted. "Candlemon, use all the fire power you got! We can do this!"

"Gotcha, boss!" Candlemon charged his flaming wick up as much as he could. "Flame Bomber!" He let loose a large blast of fire, easily damaging Icemon and knocking him far back.

Getting back up from the attack, he brushed himself off. "Why, you little…" Quickly, Icemon leaped to a couple more Digitama and absorbed the data. The data seemed to swirl around him, changing his color a bit.

"Did he just digivolve or something?" Jen looked puzzled. She flipped open her DigiCell and read the holo-display. "Meteormon? This one's an Ultimate level! Fire attacks won't do very much to this one now! They're so similar looking… without the light show I'd never have guessed it was a digivolution!"

"Cosmic Flare!" Meteormon sent down a beam from the sky, shining on Candlemon. In an instant, a shower of meteors rained upon him, knocking him flat on his back.

"I think we need a bit more to beat him," Jen said. She looked at Veemon. "Get ready! Initiate Digivolution Matrix!"

"Veemon digivolve to… Veedramon!"

Max observed his injured Digimon. "Guess Candlemon could use his boost, too." Each of the others pulled out their Digivices.

Jared, Alexis and Akira looked at their Rookies. "Go! Initiate Digivolution Matrix!"

"_Candlemon digivolve to… __**Meramon!**_"

"_KoKabuterimon digivolve to… __**BladeKuwagamon!**_"

"_Penguinmon digivolve to… __**Dolphmon!**_"

"_Patamon digivolve to… __**Starmon!**_"

Meteormon had a horrified looked on his face. "Wait, wait, no! I give!" He gazed at all of the Champions who looked like they were about to strangle him. "I'll give the egg data back! I promise!"

Keeping his word, Meteormon released several streams of data all around him, reviving and fixing several of the Digitama that had been broken. He then de-digivolved to his rocky Rookie form.

"There, I'll be good!" Gotsumon said. He then muttered something under his breath, and the others struggled to hear it.

Jen stared at Gotsumon. "What was that?" At that second, Gotsumon's data completely dematerialized into the air and back down to a ruby, just like the other enemies they'd fought.

"Whoa!" The kids stared at the red ruby-like item. It shined very brightly for a moment, then faded down. The partner Digimon all de-digivolved to their Rookie forms, minus Starmon.

"Are all Digimon like that?" Max asked rhetorically, picking up the item. He examined it, and there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. "I wonder if we took this back to the Real World, we'd get a lot of money for it…"

Jen snatched the ruby from his hand. "Don't even think about it. We're not even sure what these things really do."

Leomon came running to the group. "I'm… very sorry about that Digimon. He's been stealing data from my village for a while now, and I'm not even sure how he can do it."

Jen handed Leomon the ruby. "This might have something to do with it."

Leomon examined it for a moment. "This looks a lot like a DigiCore… but why is it red and not golden?"

Starmon had an intuitive look on his face. "That was my thought exactly: a DigiCore."

The kids all turned to either Leomon or Starmon. "What's a DigiCore?" Jen asked.

"DigiCores are the center of every Digimon," Starmon explained. "You could think of them as a Digimon's heart. If a Digimon's Core is destroyed, so is the Digimon."

"Why did Gotsumon de-materialize, though?" Jen asked.

"I'd imagine someone is controlling their DigiCores and making them do that," Leomon thought, "thus their different color from the norm."

"Aren't only extremely strong Digimon able to do something like that?" Candlemon wondered.

"You're right, Candlemon," Starmon continued, "so we're up against something strong here."

Akira thought for a second. "You guys think it's Kimeramon, too?" The other kids nodded.

"Kimeramon is a major burden here," Leomon explained. "I have no doubt he's part of it."

"Well, let's find this guy and take him out, already!" Jen said in excitement. The others sighed.

"Jen, don't get ahead of yourself," Starmon said. "I've said it before: Kimeramon is beyond our strength. Our combined efforts are nothing compared to what he can do with one arm."

"What do you want us to do? Drill sergeant you guys to death?" Jen asked sarcastically. "We gotta do what we gotta do!"

"Not if there's lives at risk," Jared said. "We have to prepare ourselves. Not fight mindlessly."

Jen sighed. "Fine, have it YOUR way. We'll wait till we have a decent plan."

- - -

"Thank you for protecting my village today, Digidestined," Leomon said to the kids as they prepared to leave. Jen was carrying the tainted DigiCore in her left vest pocket. Veemon and Penguinmon were munching on some Digi-Donuts.

"It was no problem," Max said without modesty. "He was one of our easier beasties, right guys?" Max smiled as the others grumbled. Leomon, being unconscious during the battle, had no idea the kids barely did anything to fight off Meteormon.

"You and your friends are welcome here any time!" Leomon did a fancy bow in front of them. "I wish you good luck on your quest to destroy the evil that has plagued us."

Jen smiled. "We'll come back here if we need yo—" The two Koromon that had hatched recently leaped into Jen's chest.

"We want to come with you!" they exclaimed in unison. "It's boring here!" Leomon chuckled.

"Ah, what the hell, more mouths to feed…" Jen pondered for a moment. "Okay, fine. But don't expect us to baby you two."

The right Koromon chuckled. "No problem! We can take care of ourselves!" They each leaped into KoKabuterimon's arms.


	10. 9: Digi, It's Cold Outside

Chapter 9: Digi, It's Cold Outside

"So how are we gonna tell you guys apart again?" Jen wondered as KoKabuterimon carried the two Koromon.

"Well, maybe we could speak in different voices!" the Koromon in KoKabuterimon's left arm said. He cleared his throat and said in a deep voice, "How's this sound?"

The right Koromon started cracking up. "You sound like an Otamamon with a chest cold!"

The left Koromon grumbled.

The kids were wandering on a trail towards a chain of ice-capped mountains. The farther they walked on the snowy trail, the colder and windier it got.

Max was shivering. Seeing as he was wearing a muscle shirt and shorts, he was the least well prepared for where they were headed. Thus, he was naturally doing the most complaining. "Why are we going to the Cold Mountains again?"

"Well, I used a tracking device on my DigiCell," Jared explained, "and from the looks of it General Hankeru is hiding up their with Commandramon since File City's destroyed."

"How did you get a tracking device on there?" Jen wondered.

"Akira installed it for me!" Jared exclaimed. Akira kept quiet.

The kids began to cross their arms. They could see their own breath every time they exhaled. "Hey, Akira, you never told us exactly where you're from." Jen looked at the boy.

"Yeah," Max said, shivering. "H-how did you g-get here?"

"Well…" Akira was quiet for a moment. "It's hard to explain. Let me think about it a bit then I'll get back to you."

Max shrugged, but then quickly closed his arms again. "Wh-whatever…"

Candlemon looked up at Max, creating a greater fire on his wick. "This should keep you warmer, boss."

"Thanks."

The kids grew closer and closer to the mountains. "Wow, they look a lot taller the closer you get to them…" Jen said.

The kids noticed three small lizard Digimon at one of the mountain's bases. They appeared to be small dinosaurs, but their skin was snowy white. Jared pulled out his DigiCell and read their holo-display. "SnowAgumon. They're all Rookie Digimon. It's no surprise to see them here, since they enjoy cold weather and attack with a Frozen Wind blast!"

"Whoa!" the left Koromon exclaimed. "They look sort of familiar…"

KoKabuterimon adjusted the two Koromon in his arms. "They don't look like much of a threat. We should be okay passing them by."

The three SnowAgumon looked over at the kids. "Hey, watch this!" one exclaimed. The Digimon rolled up a ball of snow with his claw and tossed it at the group randomly, hitting Veemon in the head and caught him by surprise.

"Hey!" Veemon shouted, looking over at the lizards. "I'm gonna come get you!" Veemon began dashing through the snow, gaining speed the further he ran.

"Veemon, don't mess with them!" Jen said, sighing.

The SnowAgumon group looked scared, waving their claws for Veemon to stop. "Leap out of the way!" one of them shouted, strafing to the left to avoid Veemon. The other two did the same.

"Vee Head Bu--WHOA!" Veemon shouted, but was interrupted as he propelled himself into the air at what he thought was the SnowAgumon, but he just hit the mountain's side. "Ughhhh…" Snow fell from the top of the mountain due to the impact, and a loud, angry roar could be heard in the distance.

"Those little meanies!" one of the Koromon exclaimed, hopping out of KoKabuterimon's grip. The other Koromon did the same as the SnowAgumon began to run away into the mountain valley. The twin Digimon followed the SnowAgumon group into the valley.

KoKabuterimon stumbled. "Huh? Where are they going?"

"Go after them, I'm gonna go help Veemon out," Jen ordered, running through the snow to her Digimon. The others ran into the mountain valley.

- - -

"We're sorry! We're sorry!" the three SnowAgumon said in unison, worried that the two Rookie Digimon before them would hurt them.

"Well, be careful next time!" said a lizard Digimon, closely resembling SnowAgumon except for its orange skin and red bracers.

"Yeah! You could have really hurt one of us," said a beast Digimon with a Garurumon pelt on its back and a yellow horn on its head. It had yellow skin as well.

The others ran up behind these two. "Hey… where did the two Koromon go?" Max wondered.

The two Rookies turned around and looked at the group. "You're looking at them!"

Jared pulled out his Digivice and read a holo-display for the lizard Digimon. "Agumon, a small dinosaur Digimon with sharp claws. Its Pepper Breath attack could melt up all the ice in this area!"

Alexis read a holo-display for the other Rookie. "Gabumon, a reptilian beast Digimon with a horn on its head. His Blue Blaster power may look cold, but it can actually start fires!"

"We were just teaching these bad Digimon a lesson!" Agumon said innocently.

"We never meant to cause trouble," a SnowAgumon said. "We just get really lonely down here. Nobody comes around this area anymore."

Jen and Veemon came back over to join the group. "Where'd the Koromon go?" Agumon and Gabumon sighed, raising their hands.

"Wait, why doesn't anyone come around here?" KoKabuterimon asked.

"Well, it's a strong rumor around the Digital World that an evil beast Digimon lives high in the mountains," one of the SnowAgumon explained. "We're pretty much the only Digimon around here that are brave enough to stay."

Jen seemed interested. "What does this Digimon look like?"

One SnowAgumon sighed. "Nobody knows for sure. He doesn't normally come down to the base of the mountains, unless he knows something is threatening him here. At those times, we hide."

"Hey, Jen, I think we should investigate this! Maybe the Digimon is Kimeramon!" Veemon suggested.

"Yeah, plus if the General is around here, he might be in trouble!" Jen adjusted her goggles. "Let's get a move on it!" The kids began to walk around the side of the mountain.

"Good lu—" one of the SnowAgumon began to wave goodbye. He, as well as his two brethren, were then suddenly struck frozen in a facial expression as if they'd seen a ghost.

Jen turned around to look at the gang and noticed their eyes were glowing red. Each of them slowly began to brightly glow as they each took a different new shape.

"Erm…" Candlemon wondered, "if they're not evil, why are they… digivolving?"

Each SnowAgumon was now a different Champion Digimon. One resembled a Yeti, another a large snowman-bear, and the last one a frozen ogre.

Akira pulled out his Digivice. "Mojyamon… Frigimon… and Hyogamon! Each of them are icy Digimon of the Champion level… I think Kimeramon's taken control of them now."

"Not so fast!" Veemon exclaimed. Gabumon and Agumon hid behind the kids. "Jen, we can take them, right?"

"I'm not sure," Akira chimed in. "Digimon under Kimeramon's control are normally stronger than their counterparts…"

"We can take them anyway, Veemon!" Jen exclaimed, pulling out her Digivice. "Initiate Digivolution Matrix!"

"_Veemon digivolve to… __**Veedramon!**_" Veedramon began to charge at Hyogamon, as the already digivolved Starmon began to attack Frigimon.

"V-Nova Blast!" Veedramon sent a V-shaped blast of flame at Hyogamon. Hitting him, Hyogamon fell to the ground pretty quickly. He was greatly effected by this attack, being an ice Digimon.

Starmon pulled back his fist and smacked Frigimon in the gut. It didn't harm him too much, though, and he simply lifted Starmon up by his upper point. He then tossed him into the side of the mountain and he fell to the ground.

"Candlemon, get in there!" Max commanded his Digimon.

"You too, KoKabuterimon!" Jared did the same.

"Go get them, Penguinmo—" Alexis was embarrassed to see her Digimon sliding along the ice on her stomach. "Penguinmon, get in there -now-!"

"Initiate Digivolution Matrix!"

"_Candlemon digivolve to… __**Meramon!**_"

"_KoKabuterimon digivolve to… __**BladeKuwagamon!**_"

"_Penguinmon digivolve to… __**Dolphmon!**_"

Each of the ice Digimon noticed Meramon's flaming figure and began to back away and run. It was useless, though, as Meramon charged up a flaming fireball. He quickly tossed it at the group of Digimon, melting Frigimon into data and knocking Mojyamon and Hyogamon forward. A red DigiCore was left where Frigimon stood.

BladeKuwagamon hopped into the fight. "Spark Blade!" he shouted as he glowed with energy, swiftly slashing through Hyogamon and Mojyamon's stomachs. As Mojyamon dematerialized and left another crimson DigiCore, Hyogamon was still standing.

Starmon got up, apparently weakened but still able to fight. Dolphmon floated over to him. "Combined attack, now!" Both Dolphmon and Starmon rushed toward Hyogamon.

"Meteor Stream!" Starmon shouted, raining meteors from the sky upon Hyogamon. Each of the meteors missed, though, and Hyogamon smacked Starmon to the side with an icy spear.

"Shaking Pulse!" Dolphmon shouted, sending a sonic blast at the mountainside. Several pieces of rock began to tumble off the ledge.

Meramon leaped into the air. "Fireball!" He sent a flaming sphere at the tumbling rocks as Starmon also leaped into the air.

"Stunning Kick!" Starmon yelled, quickly kicking each of the molten rocks directly at Hyogamon's face. Veedramon leaped forward at Hyogamon and smacking him in the stomach, causing him to quickly dematerialize and form another red DigiCore. Meramon and Starmon landed safely on the ground. Veedramon, Meramon, Dolphmon and BladeKuwagamon de-digivolved back into their Rookie forms.

Veemon smiled. "Wow, guys, we're really getting the hang of this!"

KoKabuterimon chuckled. "Yeah, I've never been so comfortable with fighting."

Starmon and Veemon began to gather the three DigiCores. Jen studied Agumon and Gabumon for a moment. "Well, I'm assuming the blue one is the Drimogemon?" Gabumon nodded.

"Psh, so what?" Agumon scoffed. "I can change into, like, 50 different Champion forms, including, but not limited tooooo…" Agumon jumped up to Jared's pocket and snatched his Digivice, flipping it open and reading his database entry. "Greymon, GeoGreymon, ExVeemon, Tyrannomon, Monochromon, Golemon, Hookmon…" The kids sighed at the babbling Agumon as they heard a long, loud howl from the top of the mountain.

"They got wolves around here?" Max asked tongue-in-cheek.

"I don't think we're in a good position either way," Jared stated. "Maybe we should go."

"No way!" Jen exclaimed as the howl sounded once again. "We have to find the General, remember?"

Another howl was heard, this time even longer and growing louder. As it sounded, a growling could be heard from behind the group. A Digimon resembling Leomon was behind them!

"Ice Beast Fist!" the Digimon shouted as he punched the air, sending a freezing lion insignia at the team. It hit Starmon, who froze into a block of ice from the impact.

Akira, in fear of the Digimon, stumbled to find his DigiCell but was interrupted as the Leomon-like Digimon grabbed him around the waist and quickly leaped into the air and from ledge to ledge on the mountainside, climbed to the top.

"AKIRA!" Jen shouted after him, but it was too late. Akira had been kidnapped!


	11. 10: The Lion Eats Tonight

Chapter 10: The Lion Eats Tonight

"Whoa," Alexis sighed. "Was that Leomon?"

"I hope not…" Max said. "Cause he looked a lot like him."

Jen grumbled. "Whoever he is, we're taking him down! He's obviously one of Kimeramon's buddies."

Veemon smiled. "You got it, Jenmon!"

"I'm able to fly up there if you'd like," KoKabuterimon suggested. "Both me and Candlemon could do so." He looked over at the floating Candlemon.

Max shrugged. "I forgot he floats. Sorry."

Candlemon chuckled and nodded. "Alright, I can do that!"

"Okay," Jen said. "Veemon, get on KoKabuterimon's back, and Candlemon can float up there." Jen looked at the frozen Starmon. "Actually, could you melt the ice around Starmon first, Candlemon?"

"No problem!" Candlemon exclaimed. He moved near the ice block, quickly melting it with his wick.

Starmon fell to the ground after it melted. "Wha… owww…."

Alexis ran to Starmon's side. "I think you should stay here and rest." Starmon nodded.

"Right, Alexis," Max looked over at her. "You stay here and watch him with Penguinmon." She frowned, but nodded.

Veemon hopped onto KoKabuterimon's back and KoKabuterimon leaped into the air, taking flight alongside Candlemon. They flew up to the closest ledge. KoKabuterimon put the Veemon down, going back to the mountain base to get the kids. Jared hopped onto KoKabuterimon's back and he took Jen and Max in his left and right arms, flying up with them as well. Agumon and Gabumon wished them good luck.

Jen sighed. "At this stupid rate, we're never gonna get up there…"

Max looked up and had an excited look on his face, pointing into the sky at two large insectoid figures flying toward them. "We're saved!"

"How do you know?" Jared said, worried. "They might want to hurt us!"

As the insects grew closer, they began laughing in a friendly way. "It looks like you all are having a little trouble!" one of them said. "Don't worry: we're the DinoBeemon brothers! We don't bite."

Jared sighed. "Okay. Can you give us a lift to the top of this mountain? We hear there's a cave there with an evil Digimon."

"Evil Digimon?" a DinoBeemon said, startled. "You sure you want to go up there?"

Jen smiled and stood dramatically defiant. "Because weeee're DIGIDESTINED!"

The other DinoBeemon laughed. "Well, you've got plenty of spirit. But be careful." He lowered his back to the ledge's level, allowing Jen and Veemon to get on. The other DinoBeemon allowed Max and Jared to get on as KoKabuterimon and Candlemon floated up.

- - -

"Finally… we're at the top," the DinoBeemon carrying Jen and Veemon stated after ten minutes of flying straight up.

"Hmm… it's not much colder up here. That's weird," Jen noticed. "Anyway, thanks for the ride!" The kids got off the DinoBeemon brothers and onto a ledge at the top of the mountain. They waved goodbye to them as they flew off.

"We should be quiet up here, in case that Digimon's home is nearby," Max whispered. The others gave him a thumb's up as they sneaked around.

Circling around the tip of the mountain, the kids noticed a moderately sized hole in the ground. It looked like three humans could fit into it! Along the wall of the hole inside was a ladder.

"Think we should climb on down?" Jen suggested. "We don't know what may be down there."

The others nodded for her to go in first. "No way!" she almost shouted. "I think KoKabuterimon should go in first. He's the strongest, AND he flies!"

"But… oh, all right," KoKabuterimon tried to argue. "I think it'd be easier as a Champion level, though." He looked over at Jared as he pulled out his Digivice.

"Initiate Digivolution Matrix!"

"KoKabuterimon digivolve to… BladeKuwagamon!" Quickly, yet quietly, BladeKuwagamon zipped down in a flash of light into the hole. After a moment, he came back up. "All clear!"

Jen began to climb down first on the ladder, looking below. "If I fall, I'm blaming you guys…" The others climbed down, following behind her.

They each landed on a rocky snow surface. The inside of the mountain was lined with icy walls, some having carvings drawn into them. Nearby a growling sound could be heard, and a boyish scream.

"Uh… I think the Digimon lives here," Jared said in a scared voice. BladeKuwagamon sped ahead of the group, going at such high speeds that he was nearly invisible. "Hey, come back!"

"Whoa!" Jen exclaimed. In the distance, the group could hear quick footsteps approaching. "There's no time to hide! Get ready!" Jen prepared her DigiCell. Around the cave wall came the bestial lion Digimon that had kidnapped Akira.

Quickly, Jen flipped open her Digivice, as did Max. "Initiatedigivolutionmatrixxxxx!"

"_Veemon digivolve to… __**Veedramon!**_"

"_Candlemon digivolve to… __**Meramon!**_"

The Lion Digimon dashed his way into Veedramon, his fist forward. He smacked Veedramon in the stomach and he flew backward into the cave wall.

"IceLeomon!" Jared read off his DigiCell's holo-display. "He's an Ultimate level! He doesn't seem to have the same DNA signature as Leomon."

"Veedramon!" Jen shouted after her Digimon. "Don't give up!" Struggling to recover, Veedramon leaped to his feet and, shoulder in front, smacked into IceLeomon's stomach. This sent him flying back a bit, but being a nimble feline, he recovered fairly quickly.

Meramon joined into the fight. "Fireball!" He tossed several small flaming balls at IceLeomon, but he quickly froze them in his hands upon catching them.

"Flame is not enough to stop me!" IceLeomon said haughty-like. "Ice Beast Fist!" IceLeomon performed the same attack he had used on Starmon earlier, aiming it at BladeKuwagamon and quickly encasing him in a block of ice. He then ran toward Meramon and jump kicked him in the stomach, tossing him backward.

IceLeomon wasn't nearly done. "Ice Ray!" He sent a spray of snowy particles at Veedramon, causing him to shiver uncontrollably and fall to the floor.

"J-j-Jen…" Veedramon shivered. "I can't t-t-take much m-m-more!"

"Veedramon…" Jen trembled. She began to get a bit enthusiastic, though. "Don't give up! This guy's nothing!"

Veedramon got back on his feet. "You're right! If I fail this… I fail my team!" At that moment, Veedramon felt a surge of power. "I can do this!"

Jen's pocket began to glow as she slowly lowered her hand to pull something out. It was the DigiChip she had found the other day!

"Whoa! Why is this thing glowing?" Jen inspected it as she nodded to herself, smiling. "Hey, Veedramon, get ready for something!" IceLeomon was staring in confusion. "Meramon, unfreeze BladeKuwagamon and go get Akira!"

Meramon nodded and Jen flipped open her Digivice, inserting the DigiChip into the side of it. "Loyalty Chip Engaged! Initiate Hyper Digivolution!"

Veedramon was struck with a burst of data. "_Veedramon hyper digivolve to… __**AEROVEEDRAMON!**_"

Jared stared at AeroVeedramon. Meramon had already melted the ice around BladeKuwagamon and was off helping Akira. "Cool wings…"

- - -

Meramon and Max managed to retrace IceLeomon's steps back to where he came from. The kids were right: Meramon noticed Akira, General Hankeru and Commandramon bolted to a wall by metal plates.

"Meramon!" Akira shouted. "Help us!"

"No problem!" Meramon ran over to the three captives, placing his hand by each metal plate. One by one, he melted the metal until the three were freed from the wall.

"Thank you, Max," General Hankeru nodded to the pair. "We should get out of here before IceLeomon comes back." The General flipped open his DigiCell. "Got a minute, Commandramon?"

Commandramon saluted. "Yes, sir!"

"Initiate Hyper Digivolution!"

"_Commandramon digivolve to… Sealsdramon hyper digivolve to… __**Tankdramon!**_"

Akira and Max stared at the General's Ultimate Digimon. Max patted himself on the chest with his open hand. "Why not ME? I want that!"

Tankdramon waved his arms for the others to get out of the way. "This is gonna be big! Striper Cannon!" Tankdramon fired a small warhead at a nearby wall, blowing it to pieces. Tankdramon had created a large opening to escape from.

- - -

AeroVeedramon and BladeKuwagamon were left alone with Jen and Jared in a fight against IceLeomon.

AeroVeedramon powered up his fists with energy. "Magnum Crusher!" he shouted, leaping at IceLeomon and attempting to destroy him.

"Ice Armor!" IceLeomon covered his right arm in an glacial shield, deflecting AeroVeedramon's attack.

AeroVeedramon slid back on the ice a bit. "How did he block my attack?" he grumbled in a deep voice, similar to that of Veedramon's.

IceLeomon heard the explosion from behind him and around the wall. "The prisoners shall not escape!" IceLeomon made a dash toward around the corner of the wall.

"I'll get him!" BladeKuwagamon buzzed, zipping quickly around the corner. AeroVeedramon stomped behind him with Jen and Jared.

Tankdramon was helping everyone out of the cave through the hole he'd made. "Hurry, get out!"

IceLeomon quickly approached the escaping group. "Kimeramon's plan shall not be spoiled!"

BladeKuwagamon, AeroVeedramon and the kids approached IceLeomon from behind. "Whatever Kimeramon's plan is," AeroVeedramon growled, "it's not happening! V-WING BLADE!" From his body, AeroVeedramon released a burst of heat energy, firing it at IceLeomon. The attack knocked him back quite far and onto his back. He began to recover and get up, but BladeKuwagamon also released an attack.

"Spark Blade!" BladeKuwagamon flew with excessive force into IceLeomon, impaling him in the stomach. IceLeomon's eyes closed in pain, gripping BladeKuwagamon's hilt.

"I will… not let Kimeramon… down!" IceLeomon pulled BladeKuwagamon out of his stomach, howling in pain. He held the Digimon in his hand, tossing it blade first at AeroVeedramon. He then hopped off the ledge of the wall's opening, down to where Meramon, Max and the General now were.

AeroVeedramon managed to dodge BladeKuwagamon as the bug Digimon gained control of himself. "I'm going after him!" AeroVeedramon leaped off the ledge, taking flight with his tattered wings.

Jen and Jared walked to the ledge. "Don't let him get away!" Jen shouted after her Digimon, looking over at Jared and Tankdramon. "That's my Digimon right there. Ain't he nifty?"

- - -

Meramon tossed a fireball at IceLeomon. "You're not getting away now!" The fireball hit IceLeomon in his chest wound, knocking him onto the ice and making him slide on it.

Tankdramon, now as Sealsdramon, leaped down to the base where the others were with Jen and Jared on his back. As he landed, he set them down on the ground.

AeroVeedramon was flying above IceLeomon, who was on the slippery ice path at the base of the mountain. He began to charge an attack! "V-Wing Blade!" AeroVeedramon again sent a beam of heat from his body at IceLeomon, this time even bigger, and hit him. The slashing effect caused IceLeomon to quickly dematerialize.

Jen smiled. "Wait for it, a red DigiCore's gonna come up any time now!" But it didn't. Instead, in IceLeomon's place was a Digitama.

Max and Jen looked at the egg confused. "How come he became an egg and didn't leave a DigiCore?" Max wondered.

Jared walked up to the egg to look at it, almost slipping on the icy ground. "IceLeomon wasn't controlled by Kimeramon," Jared said, inspecting the Digitama. "He was just a follower."

"But…" Jen argued, "he made a comment about Kimeramon's plans!"

General Hankeru approached the kids, his Commandramon by his side. "He was a supporter of his plan. Like a political follower of sorts. He wasn't under anybody's control, he just decided to fight for Kimeramon's cause with his life in his own free will."

"Like a religious fanatic!" Jen said ignorantly.

"Erm, yes, sure," the General falsely agreed.

"Well, whatever he was, we should probably go get my sister and Starmon." Max almost forgot. "Oh, and those two weird Koromon guys. Jared, get that egg, please."

Jared struggled to lift the Digitama. "Hey, KoKabuterimon…" Jared said to his now de-digivolved Digimon. "Can you get this for me?"

KoKabuterimon sighed. "You really need to bulk up, Jared…"

- - -

The group and their Digimon ran toward Alexis, Penguinmon and Starmon, waving. "We're here!" Jen shouted. It took a moment, but Jared realized something wasn't right.

"Hey, Alexis!" Max ran up to his sister to hug her, but she escaped his grip. "…What's wrong?"

Alexis pointed to Penguinmon, who was lying on the floor injured. "You left me and Penguinmon here to face Gigadramon all alone! Dolphmon couldn't handle him!"

"I'm… sorry, sis, I didn't know…"

"Am I that useless of a Digidestined? Am I not supposed to be here or something?!" Alexis sobbed. "I'm just wasting my time here with you guys, aren't I?!"

"Alexis, no, it's not THAT…" Max tried to comfort her.

"No!" Alexis shouted. "Thanks to you, Gigadramon flew off with Agumon and Gabumon!"

Jen approached the crying Alexis. "It's okay, girl… we'll get Agumon and Gabumon back, I promise."

Alexis wiped her tears away. KoKabuterimon approached the General. "Did you want this Digitama, sir?"

General Hankeru shook his head. "No. Commandramon and I haven't anywhere to go on our own. I think we'll be traveling with you guys for a while."

Commandramon nudged KoKabuterimon and winked. "Besides, you could make your partner over there carry the egg and bulk up a bit!" KoKabuterimon giggled.

"Well, guys," Jen sighed. "Looks like we have a lot to get going on… General, you mind being the leader for a bit?" She asked this unusually politely.

"Why, yes," the General smiled. "Our first priority is to find Agumon and Gabumon. Do you know which direction Gigadramon flew off to, Alexis?" Alexis wiped her eyes, pointing to her right.

"Infinity Mountain," the General confirmed. "Got it."


End file.
